


Rapture On The Rocks

by kissedbydragonfire



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Romance, Sex, garcy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 07:00:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 62,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16445045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissedbydragonfire/pseuds/kissedbydragonfire
Summary: Lucy loses her memory after an accident.  In her search to discovery her identity, she befriends many of the townspeople.  Will she find out who she is?  If she does, will she even want to leave her new life?





	1. Failure to Identify

Lucy had driven for what felt like hours now.  She had fought with her mother about Noah and just got in her car.  This was her life and if she didn’t want to marry Noah, she wasn’t going to.  Her mother had controlled enough of her life and made enough of her decisions for her, but she was not going to make this one.  She had driven with blinders on, with the incessant feeling that she needed to get far away fast. 

At some point in the night, she had stopped for gas and a bite to eat at a rest stop.  It was then that it occurred to her that she had crossed the state line and was now in Oregon.  So, she decided to take a few days and relax in a quaint town on the coast.  She drove until she began to get drowsy, so she decided to get off the highway at the next exit and find a place to stay.  She was on U.S. Route 101 and the next exit was for Dafoe Bay.  Rain had begun to fall and the roads became increasingly slicker.  When Lucy made the turn, her car slid, hit the guardrail and plowed down into the ravine below.  She jumped out of the moving car just in the nick of time to avoid the huge tree in front of her.  Seconds after she had jumped, her car slammed into the tree head on.  She landed with a thud and struck the side of her head forcefully on a rock.  The car careened off the tree and further down the ravine into the river below. 

Lucy sat up slowly, dazed and confused.  The rain poured down and soaked her to the bone.  She was cold and lost.  Her head hurt and she noticed it was bleeding when she put her hand to it.  Her legs were weak and buckled beneath her and the high-heeled boots she had on were not conducive with the muddy, steep terrain.  The pale light of the moon was her only illumination through the massive, pitch black night.  She spotted a brighter light off in the distance and stumbled that way.  She fell multiple times and was scraped and bruised from underbrush and rocks.  Unable to think clearly, she pressed on through the rain, dirt and mud until she came upon a gas station on the outskirts of town.  She had no phone, no purse, no money and no ID.  She walked into the store and the clerk gave her the side eye right away. 

“Can I help you miss?” he asked.

“I-I’m hurt and I need help,” Lucy answered.

The clerk saw the blood dripping down the side of her head and realized she wasn’t some random late night drunk or druggie.  He called 911 and an ambulance came and took her to the hospital.  Well, at least that was what she assumed happened.  She remembered being in the gas station and then she woke up in the hospital.  Her head pounded like a construction worker was inside it with a jackhammer.  She was still dizzy and nauseous.  There was a doctor in her room and he asked her questions, but she was unable to make out what the words were. 

“Miss?  Do you know where you are?” the doctor asked her.

She looked back at him in utter confusion.  Maybe her headache had caused her to hallucinate, but she thought the doctor had a British accent.  _Was she in England?_

“The hospital,” Lucy groaned back.

“Good.  Do you know what year it is?” the doctor questioned.

“2018,” she replied.

“Good.  Do you know your name?” he asked.

“My name is….”

_How could she not know her own name?_

“You can’t remember, can you?” he asked with concern.

Lucy shook her head in response.

“I’m sorry,” she stated as she began to cry.

“It’s okay.  You hit your head pretty hard.  You most likely have a concussion, but I want to run a few tests first.  Is that okay with you?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” Lucy whispered.

“Okay.  My name is Dr. Mason.  We’re going to find out what’s wrong and take care of it,” he stated.

“Thank you,” Lucy whispered in response.

“I want you to push as hard as you can against my hands with yours,” Dr. Mason instructed. 

Lucy followed the doctor’s instructions, but she really had to concentrate on his words.  There was definitely a delay in her response to a few things.  He checked her eyes and her head wound as well.  When he asked her to stand, she was unsteady on her feet and felt dizzy.  Dr. Mason reviewed her chart and then turned to the nurse who awaited his instructions.

“I want a CT of her head, with and without contrast; a full CBC; urinalysis; chest x-ray and 2mg of IV versed,” Dr. Mason ordered.

“Yes, Dr. Mason,” the nurse replied.

“Oh, Nurse Smith, add a psych consult to those orders as well,” as Dr. Mason turned to look back at his patient.

Lucy just looked straight ahead as her eyes strained to see in the fluorescent glow of the hospital lights.  The nurse nodded her head and then disappeared down the hallway. 

“Once I get the results back from your tests, I will be back to reexamine you.  Sometimes, memories start to come back right away, other times it takes a little longer.  Most people who suffer a traumatic brain injury are in the latter category, so don’t be discouraged,” Dr. Mason informed her.

Lucy just stared back at him blankly, annoyed at herself that she could not remember who she was.  In fact, the first thing she recalled was being in that gas station.  Terror and panic filled her thoughts as her chest tightened like a vice.  _What’s going to happen to me?_   She would say she had never been more scared in her life, but she honestly couldn’t remember, so everything was a new experience.  It felt like an eternity before the nurse’s aide came and transported her down to her CAT scan. 

When she arrived in radiology, the technician asked to see her hospital ID bracelet.  Lucy looked down at the bracelet on her right wrist.  Plain as day, the tag said in big letters, “JANE DOE.”  The technician gave her a forced smile when Lucy showed him her arm.  He prepared her for the scan and Lucy leered at the machine.  Something about being in that coffin-sized tunnel was nerve-wracking.  Within minutes, Lucy _needed_ to get out.  The technician told her she needed to stay still.  Lucy tried hard and was able to stay still for a little while before she screamed to get her out.  The technician got her out of the machine, as she panted and gasped for breath.  Sweat dripped from her brow. 

“You must be claustrophobic,” the technician said to her.

Apparently, Lucy had stayed still long enough for the technician to complete the study without the contrast.  When he informed Lucy that he needed to give her the oral contrast, she outright refused.  The technician shrugged his shoulders and the aide took her back up to her room. 

Lucy sat in her hospital bed and flipped senselessly through the different channels of the TV.  The hospital had given her pain medicine for her headaches and various body aches, which put her more into a fog than she already was.  It was already difficult enough to think or concentrate with her brain being pounded persistently.  The hospital lights bothered her so much that she asked the nurse if she could turn them off.  _How long was she going to be like this?_  

Dr. Mason dropped back into her room an hour or so later and confirmed that she had a concussion and she was suffering from the effects of post-concussion syndrome.  Her amnesia was one of those effects and it could be permanent or not.  Only time would tell.  There wasn’t any treatment to be given and Dr. Mason had every reason to discharge her from the hospital.  He wanted to see her again in a few days to check her progress.  The obvious problem was, what to do with her in the meantime. 

“I’ve dealt with missing persons before, but never found ones,” he joked with her.

“What’s going to happen to me now?” Lucy asked as she held her breath for his response.

“Unfortunately, that’s going to be up to the police.  They need to take a statement and file a report for you.  They should be here any minute,” Dr. Mason answered.

The second the words exited his mouth, an officer walked into the room.  She was an older woman, but she gave Lucy a mom sort of vibe.

“Dr. Mason, is this our found person?” she asked.

“Ah, yes.  Lieutenant Christopher, this is our Jane Doe,” Dr. Mason said as he motioned his arm towards Lucy.

“Hello.  My name is Denise.  We’re going to try to get this figured out for you, but I’m going to need you to come down to the station with me and fill out some paperwork.  Do you think you’re up to that?” she asked.

Lucy agreed and as she stood up from the hospital bed, she realized she had another problem.  She only had a hospital gown.  To make matters worse, the hospital was unable to locate the bag of her belongings.  Not that she really wanted to don dirty, ragged, bloody clothes again.  Dr. Mason got her a pair of scrubs and slipper socks and she was discharged from the hospital.

She rode the entire way to the station in the back of the police car, which naturally caused her to wonder if this was the first time she had ever done so or if this was another first.  _What if they run my fingerprints and I’m some wanted fugitive?_  Too many scenarios coursed through her brain to process.  As she entered the station, a few of the officers gave her a passing glance, but one in particular seemed to be intrigued by her presence. 

“Officer Logan,” Lt. Christopher called.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“Please take this Jane Doe’s prints while I check the missing persons’ reports,” she instructed.

The officer approached her cautiously, almost slightly afraid she might freak out.  Although she had no idea when her birthday was or exactly how old she was, she guessed that the officer was close in age to her.  He was good-looking in the prince charming, pretty-boy sense of the word, but she didn’t have time for any of that now.  But she wasn’t blind either. 

“Hi.  My name’s Officer Logan.  I need to take your fingerprints.  It won’t hurt and we have wipes for when we’re finished.  I’m going to gently take your hand and roll it in the ink pad, okay?” he asked.

Lucy nodded in response and stuck out her hand.  The entire time he rolled her fingerprints in the ink, she felt a sense of shame and embarrassment.  She had no idea if she had done anything wrong previously.  When they run her prints, will they be able to find out who she is?  She went through the entire police booking procedure, minus actually being charged with a crime.  Officer Logan was nice enough the entire time, but it annoyed her to no end that he kept calling her ma’am. 

After she was photographed and fingerprinted, Office Logan escorted her into a conference room just off the main squad room.  He instructed her to wait there for Lt. Christopher.  Lucy sat there and twiddled her thumbs for what felt like an eternity.  She watched the hustle and bustle of the police station and was acutely aware of every hushed conversation and suspicious glance in her direction.  _Had they found something out?  Was she a criminal or a missing person?  What if they don’t find anything, where does that leave me?_   As she was deep in thought and pondered every possible outcome, Lt. Christopher reentered the room.

“Well, I have some bad news,” she stated with a furrowed brow.

_Oh God, am I some sort of serial killer or something?_

“We weren’t able to find a match for your fingerprints in the system and you don’t match any of our missing persons’ reports,” she answered.

“Okay.  So, I have to stay in jail until you figure this out?” Lucy questioned as tears formed in her dark brown eyes.

“Don’t be silly.  You won’t be in jail.  You haven’t done anything wrong.  Or have you?” Lt. Christopher inquired jokingly.

“Not that I know of,” Lucy answered shyly. 

“Okay, then.  Well, this isn’t a normal situation.  So for now, I’m going to see if there is a room for you at the inn,” she stated.

She beckoned Lucy to come with her.  Lucy practically sprang out of the chair like she had been electrocuted.  The faster she got out of there, the better.  She followed the lieutenant out to the parking lot.  She assumed she would be riding in the back again, just as she had on her ride here.  To her surprise, the lieutenant told her she could sit in the front of the car.  Lucy slipped into the front seat, buckled her seat belt and stared straight ahead. 

“I’m sorry this is happening to you.  I imagine this must be frustratingly difficult,” she declared as she drove towards the inn.

“To put it mildly,” Lucy replied with a forced smile.

“I can’t make any promises, but we’ll certainly do our best to help you,” the lieutenant responded.

As they drove a little further, Lucy smelled the salt-tinged air of the ocean.  She knew she was close to the coast, but she had no idea how close.  They pulled into the driveway of a white, two-story, sprawling, colonial house with black shutters that sat on the edge of the bluff.  It was breathtaking.  She saw the ocean from the driveway.  The front door opened and an older woman ambled down the front porch towards them.  She had shoulder-length brown hair sprinkled with streaks of gray, with a shapely build and a wide smile.

“Hi Denise.  Is this my new guest?” she asked the lieutenant.

“Yes.  I appreciate you doing this Maria.  I didn’t know what else to do with her honestly.  I couldn’t lock her up for no reason.  We’re hoping to get some leads soon.  I’m sure the chief will check in with you both later,” the lieutenant replied.

“Is there something that you prefer that I call you?” Maria asked Lucy.

“I-I...”

“Come on,” she said as she put an arm around Lucy’s shoulder.

For some strange reason, Lucy felt at ease with this woman.  She emitted a calm, motherly vibe and it soothed Lucy’s nerves like a blanket fresh from the dryer.  They entered the inn and Maria ushered Lucy into the kitchen.  It was a large kitchen and it had a small table in a nook on the left side. 

“My name is Maria.  Maria Flynn.  Welcome to the Inn at the Rock,” she said spreading her arms out around her.

“Thank you.  It’s very kind of you to take me in,” Lucy stated shyly.

“Does any name sound even vaguely familiar or have you decided what you want me to call you?” she asked.

“My nurse’s name was Abby.  That sounded kind of familiar, but I’m not sure if it’s someone I know or if it’s my name.  For right now, you can call me Abby,” Lucy responded.

“Abby, are they the only clothes you have?” Maria questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.  I don’t even have shoes.  The hospital lost my belongings,” Lucy explained with an audible sigh as she stuck her foot out to show her the slipper socks.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head.  We’ll find something for you,” Maria answered with a confident and calming sense of peace.

Maria showed her the general layout of the inn and then took her upstairs to her room.  The room was small and it had a queen sized bed that took up the majority of the space.  The bed was decorated with a white comforter with a blue coral and seashell design on it and the room had matching blue and white beach accents throughout it.  There was a small beige loveseat with a round coffee table near the window and a long sofa table with a coffeemaker and microwave on it and a mini-fridge underneath it.  The television was mounted above the sofa table.  There was a small bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink in it, which disappointed Lucy as she was really looking forward to soaking in a tub for a while.

“Unfortunately, my other rooms are booked already, so I had to give you the room without a view.  But it is just a couple steps from the oceanfront lawn area,” Maria said as she tried to be apologetic. 

“It’s fine.  Honestly, it’s nice.  Beats sleeping in jail,” Lucy joked.

“Oh absolutely not!  I will not stand for that.  You’re not some common criminal.  You can stay here as long as you need,” Maria offered as she patted Lucy on the shoulder.

“Thank you.  You’re too kind.  I will pay you back or work for room and board, something,” Lucy said frantically.

“Right now, I’m going to try to find you a change of clothes.  I’m sure you want to take a shower and relax,” Maria said.

Lucy sat on the bed and flipped through the channels as she waited for Maria to come back.  A shower sounded like a perfect idea to salve her achy bones and muscles.  Maria arrived back at the room in a few minutes, carrying a gray sweatshirt and a pair of black leggings. 

“They’re from our lost and found, but they’re clean.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any bras or underwear for you,” Maria stated.

“It’s alright.  I can make do with what I have for now,” Lucy replied.

“I’ll take you out tomorrow to get you some new clothes,” Maria stated.

“Oh, no…I can’t accept any more from you,” Lucy pleaded.

“I will not hear it young lady.  If you really want to help, take a shower and then meet me back down in the kitchen.  You can help me get dinner ready,” Maria declared as she patted Lucy on the shoulder. 

Lucy smiled and nodded in return.  At least if she could help Maria, she would have some semblance of purpose, which is more than she had for the last twenty-four hours.  Maria shut the door behind her as she left and Lucy gathered her sweatshirt and leggings and moseyed into the bathroom.  She stripped off her scrubs and slipper socks and stepped into the warmth of the shower.  Her achy bones lavished the soothing feeling of the water beading down her bruised and battered body.  For a few moments, she peacefully stood there in silence and absorbed the tranquilizing effect of serene placidity.

The slight peace she experienced didn’t endure for long.  Suddenly, her thoughts turned to who waited for her, or worse, depended on her.  _What if I have children?_   The thought of a baby that counted on her broke her into a thousand pieces.  She wrapped her arms around herself and slunk down the shower wall until she ended up in the fetal position.  Tears streamed as hard as the water poured from the shower head.  Terrified wasn’t even a strong enough sentiment to describe how she felt currently.  She stayed in that position as the hot water cascaded down her back until the water no longer scalded.  She exited the bathroom and pulled on her new sweatshirt and leggings.  She didn’t know what she had to look forward to in her life, but she looked forward to a good home-cooked meal after having been subjected to that awful hospital food earlier.  She put her slipper socks back on, as they were the only option she had currently, and then went downstairs to the kitchen to help Maria.

 


	2. An Audience With Abby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy makes a new friend. Flynn meets his mother's new guest.

When Lt. Christopher arrived at the squad room after she had dropped Lucy off, Officer Logan passed her in the hallway and stopped her.

“Chief wants to see you right away,” he informed her.

She groaned in response.

“Is he in one of his moods?” the lieutenant asked.

“Not sure.  He’s got me out on patrol to see if I can find any abandoned or crashed vehicle that might belong to our Jane Doe,” Officer Logan replied.

“Alright.  Good luck,” she answered as she turned down the hallway towards the chief’s office. 

It’s not that she disliked or disrespected her boss, but he hadn’t been the same in the years since he lost his wife and daughter.  She wished that he would find someone.  Deep down, he was a good man.  He had always been sarcastic, but never this grumpy all the time.  Had he been alone completely, she would’ve invited him to spend the holidays with her wife and children.  At least he had his mother.  She knew Maria had tried to set him up a few times, but no one ever seemed to have caught his eye.  She was also aware that a few of the single women in town were without a doubt interested in him.

It’s not like Dafoe Bay was some hotbed of crime.  It was just your typical small town, so being police chief hadn’t consumed his every waking hour.  He needed a hobby at the very least.  She never counted the time he spent at the shooting range as a hobby though.  Fishing would qualify as a hobby, but most guys around here had at least a buddy they would fish with.  Chief preferred to go out on his boat alone.  She never understood the draw of being out on the open ocean, but then again, she wasn’t much of a water person. 

When she got to the end of the hall, she knocked on the chief’s door and he motioned for her to enter.  She walked in his office and shut the door behind her, before she took a seat in front of his desk. 

“Lieutenant, under what circumstances do you think it wise to drop off some complete stranger at my mother’s?” he questioned harshly.

“No offense chief, but your mother runs an inn.  By definition, strangers sleep at her house every night.  This girl is fine.  No criminal history,” she replied.

“I would’ve preferred to be the judge of that.  You couldn’t have held her here and radioed me?” he inquired. 

“Sorry, Chief.  It never occurred to me.  I wasn’t going to lock this poor woman up for nothing.  She’s visibly traumatized and I can’t say I blame her.  Imagine, waking up and not knowing who you are?” she answered.

“I know you did what you thought best, but next time run it by me first, okay?” he asked.

“Yes, chief,” she answered.

He hadn’t planned to go to his mom’s tonight, but now he felt like he had to get the measure of this woman for himself.  He finished up some of his never-ending mound of paperwork and then headed out to the inn. 

He was only a few blocks from the inn, when his police radio squawked.  Dispatch advised him that the hospital had found Jane Doe’s belongings.  Since he was going to the inn anyway, he radioed dispatch that he would drive over to the hospital and pick them up himself. 

_____________________________________

When Lucy entered the kitchen, Maria was already hard at work.  There was another young woman with her, donned in an apron as well. 

“Oh, Abby.  This is my night manager, Jiya,” Maria stated.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jiya said as she offered her hand to shake.

Lucy shook her hand and smiled.  Just like Maria, Jiya seemed friendly enough. 

“There’s an extra apron in the pantry over there,” Maria advised.

Lucy shuffled over to the pantry, found the apron Maria had referred to, and slipped it over her sweatshirt. 

“So, how can I help?” Lucy asked eagerly.

“You can stir the chili here while I make the biscuits,” Maria instructed.

“Chili?” Lucy questioned.

“I know it’s not exactly a staple of the Pacific Northwest.  I’m originally from Houston,” Maria explained.

“Maria’s chili is to die for.  Everyone in town loves it,” Jiya added.

Lucy stirred the chili as instructed, as Maria and Jiya rolled out the dough for the biscuits.  She continued to learn more about the two of them as they went about the dinner preparations.  Lucy still felt weird, because she had no stories or information to share back.  Her entire life consisted of a couple of days, and she had been unconscious for a decent amount of that to boot.

“What made you move up here from Houston, if you don’t mind me asking?” Lucy questioned.

“Oh, after my husband died, I wanted a change of pace, so I bought the inn.  My oldest son, Gabriel, he’s an architect in Seattle and it’s not around the corner, but at least I can see him more than I did in Houston,” Maria responded.

“Oh, that’s nice.  Just one son?” Lucy asked curiously.

“I have two.  My other son’s name is Garcia.  He’s the Chief of Police here.  Actually, I’m surprised he’s not here yet.  I texted him that I was making chili tonight.  It’s his favorite,” Maria stated proudly.

Once the biscuits had been made, Maria asked Jiya and Lucy to put out the serving dishes and place settings in the dining room for the dinner service.  Maria explained to Lucy that she usually eats late, since she needed to ensure that the needs of her guests were attended to first.  As ravenous as Lucy was, she understood completely. 

Once she had helped with the dinner service and cleaned up the dining room, Lucy sat down at the small kitchen table with Jiya and Maria to have their dinner.  As Lucy chowed down on her chili, the kitchen door opened and in walked a _very_ tall man dressed in his police uniform.  She assumed that this was Maria’s son, which was soon confirmed by him having greeted her with a hug and a kiss.  She peeked at him under her eyelashes in an attempt to be stealthy.  She was not disappointed in the slightest at what she found.  Besides being tall, he was also ruggedly handsome with his dark, black hair and green eyes.  She quickly turned away and made a conscious effort to look at anything _but_ him.  Then the doubt and guilt hit her like a four ton brick.  _What if she was married?_   _Then again, she only looked.  Surely, there’s no harm in that, right?_  

He helped himself to a bowl of chili and sat at the empty spot at the table between Jiya and Maria, which meant he was directly across from Lucy. 

“Hey, Jiya,” he stated as he grabbed a biscuit from the basket on the table.

“Hey, Chief.  Rough day?” Jiya replied.

“No, just a long one,” he answered as he dug his spoon into his chili.

“Garcia, this is Abby.  Abby, this is my son, Garcia,” Maria said as she introduced the two.

Lucy stuck her hand across the table.  He shook it politely and then resumed eating his dinner.  Lucy finished her bowl of chili and took her dirty dishes over to the sink.  She rinsed off her dishes, placed them in the dishwasher and then sat back down at the table.  He looked up at her with a raised brow when she sat, but then delved back into his chili.  Lucy was slightly unsettled by the exchange.  _Why did he look at her like she was some sort of alien being?_   _Did she do something wrong or offensive to him?  Did she have bad table manners or something?_

Her self soliloquy was interrupted when Jiya started to talk to her about joining them on their shopping trip tomorrow.  Jiya also informed her she had brought an extra pair of pajamas for her.  Lucy thanked her and actually had begun to look forward to this shopping trip.  She and Jiya had hit it off immediately and it was nice to feel like she had made a friend.  She walked with Jiya from the kitchen to the front desk and Jiya gave her the pair of pajamas that she brought. 

“Do you like working here?” Lucy asked.

“I love it.  I’m the night manager, so I don’t have to do that much to be honest.  Plus, it gives me plenty of time to get my studying in,” Jiya answered.

“What are you going to school for?” Lucy questioned.

“Engineering,” she responded.

“Wow.”

“Well, I was going full-time until my dad passed.  Now, I have to take my classes a few at a time.  That’s when I started working here.  Maria is great and very understanding if I have a test or something comes up,” Jiya stated.

“She seems super nice.  I can’t thank her enough for what’s she done for me,” Lucy declared.

“I hope you regain your memories, but in the meantime, if you had to be stuck anywhere, this is really a nice place with nice people,” Jiya advised as she took her spot behind the front desk for the night.

Lucy nodded her head and scooped up the pajamas from the counter.

“I guess I better leave you to it then.  I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lucy said as she walked back towards the kitchen.

_____________________________________

Flynn walked down the side path of the inn towards the kitchen door.  He smelled his mother’s chili before he even opened the door.  He always used the side door that led directly into the kitchen, as it was reserved only for the employees and family members.  When he came in, he saw that his mother, Jiya and another woman were seated at the table.  He wasn’t able to see the other woman’s face as her back was to the door.  He assumed she was just a friend of Jiya’s or some guest whose husband was too busy with his work to even eat with his wife.  He had seen that scenario played out more than a few times.  He hadn’t even really paid her any attention when he sat down at the table, either.  It was only when his mother introduced him to Abby that he truly looked at her.  He barely had the wherewithal to have shaken her hand once she had offered it he was so taken aback by her beauty.  His jaw had dropped open and he quickly filled it with food in order to preserve some of his dignity.  It had been an eternity since any woman had caught his eye and he wasn’t even sure how to act or what to do about it.  _If she’s a friend of Jiya’s, she’s probably too young for him.  And if she’s a guest…_  

When she got up to rinse her dirty dishes, he glanced at her left hand.  No wedding ring or any engagement ring even.  When she placed the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, he assumed she wasn’t a guest at that point.  Even the most polite guest wouldn’t do that.  He knew his mother would’ve never allowed it.  So, he assumed his other guess had been correct and that she was a friend of Jiya’s.  He had definitely never seen her with Jiya before, but he didn’t know all of her friends.  Then he overheard them as they spoke about going shopping and he basically tuned them out.  _She’s too young for you.  Don’t even think any more about it_. 

When Jiya and Abby were out of the room, he talked to his mother about his day and how things were going at the inn.  The conversation had been generally banal up to that point.

“So, Mom, where’s your charity case at?  I need to make sure you didn’t invite some psycho to move in with you,” he inquired.

“Garcia!” Maria scolded.

“Ah, that would be me,” a voice stated from the doorway.

He looked up and saw Abby as she stood there, her face flushed red with embarrassment.  He was immediately mortified. 

“Abby, I apologize for my son,” Maria said.

“I’m sorry.  I had no idea.  I thought you were one of Jiya’s friends,” he stated.

“It’s alright.  I don’t blame you.  I think it’s sweet you’re worried about your mom,” Lucy answered.

His brain was definitely sluggish, but eventually it kicked into interrogation mode.

“Abby, huh?  Did you remember your name?” he questioned.

“I wish.  Your mom had to call me something.  I wasn’t really feeling Jane Doe,” she chuckled.

“Oh.  Well, unfortunately, there hasn’t been any new missing persons that match your description, but we will keep looking,” he responded.

“Thank you.  I appreciate anything you can do,” Lucy answered.

“You really don’t remember anything though?” he asked.

“Sorry.  The first memory I have is asking for help in the gas station and then waking up in the hospital,” Lucy explained.

He eyed her carefully as he tried to decipher if she was lying or not.  Dr. Mason didn’t seem to think so and he trusted his medical opinion.  The doctor had never led him astray about any other suspect or case before. 

Lucy sensed the tension she had obviously caused between him and his mother, as Maria continued to give her son the death glare during their conversation. 

“I don’t want to cause any trouble.  I’ll only stay tonight and then leave tomorrow.  Maria, thank you for everything you have done for me,” Lucy stated as she held back tears.

“Where will you go?” Maria asked in horror.

“I don’t know.  Is there a homeless shelter in town?” Lucy inquired as her voice cracked.

“No there isn’t,” he responded gruffly.

“It’s okay.  I’ll figure something out.  Excuse me,” Lucy said as she walked out the side door.

Tears streamed down her face and she ran to the back lawn area.  She found one of the bench swings and took a seat.

Maria yelled at him as soon as Lucy ran out the door. 

“I can’t believe you!” Maria yelled.

“I’m sorry.  I fucked up,” he yelled back.

“You better go fix it.  Can you imagine what that poor woman is going through?” Maria asked.

“No, I can’t.  Now that I’ve seen her, I believe she’s telling the truth and I don’t think she’s a danger to anyone, except perhaps herself,” he answered.

“Fix this,” Maria demanded.

He _knew_ he had really fucked this up.  _So much for first impressions._   He thought for a minute, then got up, went to the cabinet and grabbed two mugs.  Maria must have read his intention, because she pointed to the carafe on the counter.  He poured the liquid into the mugs and then ventured his way out back.  He found Lucy on the swing, with her knees to her chest, as she rocked herself as she cried.  The sight was heartbreaking and it was even worse because it was his fault.  She must’ve heard his footsteps, because she looked up at him with her red-rimmed eyes. 

“Peace offering,” he said as he handed her the mug.

Her hands were shaky when she took it from him.

“Hot chocolate?” she asked.

“My grandmother’s recipe.  Another local favorite,” he answered with a smile.

She took a small sip and then looked back up at him.

“It’s really good.  Thank you,” Lucy stated.

“Abby, I want to apologize.  It was both unprofessional and insensitive of me to speak of you that way, especially when I don’t even know you.  I can’t imagine what is like for you,” he stated sadly.

“I don’t know me either so….”

She put her head back down again and he was at a loss about what to say or do.  They both sat silently except for the occasional sip of their hot chocolate.  He wracked his brain trying to figure out how else he could help find out her identity.

“I just had an idea.  I’ll have the station put your picture up on the website.  I’ll also see if the local news will do a story on you.  Maybe someone out there will recognize you,” he suggested.

“I’m willing to try anything.  Dr. Mason says my memory could come back soon or it could take some time or ….”

“Let’s not think about the alternative right now.  Doc’s probably right and you’ll start to remember soon,” he responded.

She didn’t really answer him, just stared out at the water and continued to sip her drink. 

“You don’t have to go anywhere, Abby.  My mom really wants you to stay,” he said softly.

“Your mom is fantastic.  Salt of the earth,” she answered with a smile.

“Yeah, she is.  I’m sorry that I’m not more like her,” he muttered.

“Occupational hazard probably,” she joked.

He chuckled slightly in response, still unsure if she was just being polite about his awkward apology or she really had forgiven his abhorrent behavior earlier.  They finished their hot chocolates and then walked back to the kitchen where Maria waited with bated breath. 

“Well, did my idiot son apologize for his atrocious behavior?” Maria questioned as she gave him a dirty look.

“Yes.  Everything’s fine,” Lucy answered with a wave of her hand.

“Oh, I almost forgot.  The hospital found your personal items.  I picked them up for you on the way here,” Flynn said as he handed her a bag.

“My shoes!  The clothes are most likely ruined, but maybe I can save my boots,” she exclaimed with a bright smile.

“Be careful.  There’s also a gold necklace in there.  It fell out when the nurse handed it to me at the hospital,” Flynn explained.

Lucy dug into the bag and pulled out a gold necklace with matching chain.  The necklace was oblong in shape with Egyptian hieroglyphs etched into it.  She held the necklace up as she inspected it.

“That’s beautiful,” Maria exclaimed.

“It is,” she replied as she clenched the necklace in her fist.

“You don’t like it?” Maria asked in confusion.

“I love it, but I need to pay you something for letting me stay here, so I guess I’m going to have to sell it,” she answered.

“Absolutely not,” Maria responded with authority.

“I suggest you listen to her.  Flynns can be particularly stubborn at times.  She’s not going to budge,” he stated.

“You sure it’s just at times?” Lucy teased.

“Oh, I knew there was a reason I liked her.  She’ll give you a run for your money, Garcia,” Maria taunted.

Normally, he would’ve been beyond annoyed at that little quip of hers, but for some reason he found himself endeared by it.  Her smile sucked him in like a wave swept back out to sea.  Powerful, beautiful and devastating all at once.  He had to consciously force himself not to stare at her like an idiot.

“Well, I’m gonna call it a night,” Lucy stated as she walked towards the hallway.

“See you in the morning dear,” Maria called out.

“Goodnight, Abby,” he mumbled softly.

 


	3. First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy goes shopping with the girls, has an intense moment with Flynn and finds the first clue to uncovering her identity.

The next morning Lucy awoke to another one of her daily pounding headaches.  This was her new normal since the accident.  For some reason, the shower seemed to help, so she got up and stumbled into the bathroom.  The hot water soothed the knots in her muscles, but smarted every time it directly struck one of her bruises.  She was excited to go shopping with Maria and Jiya today, mostly because she really wanted some new clothes.  She felt grimy in the same bra and underwear and as much as she didn’t mind the leggings, she wanted a change.  She threw the leggings and sweatshirt back on and went downstairs to the kitchen, where Maria and Jiya already waited for her. 

After the three had a quick breakfast, they began to gather their coats and purses (well at least Maria and Jiya did, since Lucy had neither of these items). 

“Who’s going to watch the inn?” Lucy questioned as they were about to walk out the side door.

She had no sooner finished her question when the door opened and in walked Garcia (without his uniform, which disappointed her slightly).  Instead, he had on a gray turtleneck and jeans.  _That looked good too and accentuated his biceps nicely_. 

“How long do you think you’ll be?” Garcia asked Maria.

“I don’t know.  A couple of hours?” Maria replied.

He nodded and then proceeded to the kitchen cabinet and grabbed a mug.

“Good morning Jiya, Abby,” he stated as he poured himself some coffee.

“Morning,” they both replied in unison.

“Thank you for doing this.  We’ll be back as soon as we can,” Maria said as she planted a kiss on Garcia’s cheek.

With that the three women exited the inn and piled into Maria’s car.  Jiya had mapped out which stores in the mall they would visit first and Lucy began to think she may regret her choice to allow Jiya to tag along.  Jiya wasn’t even the one who needed the clothes, yet she was really excited about this; too excited for Lucy’s liking. 

By the time they had reached the second store of the morning, Lucy had grown tired of being the resident runway model of the group.  She just wanted to get a few essentials and Maria and Jiya wanted her to create a signature look like she was some sort of celebrity.  She had a vague idea of her overall style from the clothes she had on at the time of the accident, but it wasn’t much to go on.  So, she played along and allowed the two women to pick and choose a few different options for her.  She was about to pull the sweatshirt and leggings back on in the dressing room, when Jiya reappeared with a black dress in her hand. 

“Wait. Try this on before you leave.  I think it’ll look perfect on you,” Jiya suggested.

Lucy pulled the dress down from the top of the stall where Jiya had draped it.  She inspected it first.  It was a plain, sleeveless, black dress with a v-cut plunging neckline.

“Jiya, it’s pretty, but why would I need this?” Lucy questioned.

“Every woman needs a little black dress in her wardrobe.  It’s an essential.  You said you wanted to get the essentials, so…”

“You never know, Abby.  There are still some very eligible bachelors in this town,” Maria teased.

Lucy shrugged the dress over her head and smoothed it down her body.  She stepped out of the dressing room and both Maria and Jiya audibly gasped.

“You have to get this dress.  It looks amazing on you,” Jiya beamed with wide eyes.

“Abby, if you wear that out, every single man in this town is going to be visibly drooling,” Maria joked.

Lucy felt slightly self-conscious as she stared at herself in the mirror.  The dress looked good on her, she had to admit.  Then she checked the price tag and it was her turn to audibly gasp. 

“It does look nice, but it’s too expensive,” Lucy cautioned.

“Abby, I am treating you.  It’s fine.  Let me indulge for once.  I had two sons.  I always wanted to shop for a daughter,” Maria admitted.

How could Lucy say no to that?  Maria had been more than kind to her the last few days and she seemed to enjoy this immensely. 

“Fine,” Lucy replied.

After Maria paid for the items, the three women made their way to the food court for lunch.  They grabbed some pizza and sat down at a table, as Jiya continued to rave over some of Lucy’s new clothing.  Suddenly, Maria noticed a man in the distance and called out to him with a wave of her hand.

“Rufus!”

The man stopped and turned, then walked towards the table of women. 

“Rufus, the basement light is on the fritz again.  Do you think you could stop by the inn and take a look?” Maria questioned.

“Sure thing, Mrs. Flynn,” he replied.

He looked over at Jiya and Lucy and then dropped his eyes to his feet.

“Hi, Jiya,” he stated shyly.

“Hey Rufus, how are you?” Jiya asked with a wide smile.

“Uh-Uh, I’m good,” he stammered.

Neither one said anything else, but both kept sneaking stolen looks at the other.  Lucy picked up on this easily.

“Well, I-Uh-I gotta go,” Rufus forced out, “I’ll see you later.”

He shuffled off faster than any of the women could answer and Lucy burst out in laughter as soon as he was out of ear shot. 

“What’s so funny?” Jiya asked clueless.

“He is _so_ clearly into you.  It’s sweet, he’s so nervous he can’t even speak,” Lucy laughed.

“You think so?” Jiya questioned.

Maria and Lucy exchanged a look and then laughed in response to her obviously silly question. 

“You’re both delusional.  Rufus doesn’t like me like that,” Jiya stated rather unconvincingly.

Maria and Lucy continued to shake their heads as they gathered their packages up. 

Jiya maintained her protestations the entire way to the car and Maria and Lucy remained steadfast in their amusement. 

_______________________________________________

Flynn sat in the kitchen of the inn and stared holes into the clock on the wall.  _A few hours, huh?_   He should have known better when it came to women clothes shopping.  This was supposed to be a favor to his Mom, but if he was being honest with himself, he also wanted to see Abby again.  She had dominated his thoughts and dreams since the previous day.  That fact alone scared the hell out of him.  His heart told him to stay put, while his brain told him to run for the hills.  Conflicted as he was, his heart had won the battle today, and he waited with baited breath for them to return to the inn. 

When he heard the car in the driveway, he quickly got up and made himself look busy as he wiped down the kitchen counter.  The women entered through the side door, full of laughter and hands full of packages.  He turned and rushed to them in an effort to be helpful.

“Here, give me some of those,” he offered as he grabbed packages from his mother and Lucy’s hands. 

He had purposefully grazed his fingers over Lucy’s hand when he took the packages.  Electricity pulsed down his fingers and up his arm at even that slight touch.  His heart pounded and he felt like his lungs couldn’t pull in enough oxygen.  As he took a few of her bags, one managed to fall to the ground and the contents spilled out onto the kitchen floor.  He instinctively bent down to pick up the scattered items at the same time that Lucy did.  She almost pushed him over she moved so quickly and as he gazed down he understood why.  Black, burgundy and beige lace bras, with matching underwear, were strewn across the floor in plain view of everyone.  Her face was the same shade of burgundy as the bra and she scooped them up faster than a lightning strike. 

“I’m sorry, Abby,” he stammered as he stood back up, her other bags still gripped in his hand.

“It’s okay.  I’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve seen one.  At least I wasn’t wearing it when it happened,” she jested.

_No, but now that you mentioned it, I will be thinking about you in it._  

He smiled back, well, more of a smug smirk in reality.  He turned and set the bags down on the table.

“Alright, ladies, I will see you all later,” he announced as he grabbed his jacket.

“You’re not staying for dinner?” Maria questioned with a tinge of disappointment.

“I wanted to take the boat out for a little while,” he answered.

“It’ll be dark soon.  Don’t you have off on Friday?  Take the boat out then,” Maria advised.

He searched his mother’s face in a vain attempt to infer what she thought, since she was acting strange, even for her. 

“Fine,” he sighed as he threw his jacket back on the chair. 

“I’m going to go shower and change if you don’t mind,” Lucy stated to Maria.

“Alright, dear.  See you back down in a little bit for dinner prep,” Maria answered.

_Great.  Now mental images of Abby in the shower are swirling around in my brain.  This is torture._

Flynn was basically on auto-pilot after that.  He conversed with both his mother and Jiya, but had no memory of what they actually discussed.  His mom had asked that he peel and mash the potatoes, which he gladly accomplished by fantasizing about what Abby would look like in that bra.  He had wandered into this fantasy for so long that she appeared back in the kitchen in what he felt like was under five minutes, although it was probably close to an hour later.  She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a burgundy blouse with brown leather riding boots.  Her hair collected in loose curls at her shoulders and she tucked a rogue piece of hair behind her ear.  _She’s got the burgundy one on with that shirt._   His brain was certainly not helping his situation here.  He felt like some awkward teenager around her.  _What the hell is wrong with you?  Get a grip!_  

As they finished the dinner preparations, Jiya started to take the trays of food out into the dining room.  She had a tray loaded with salad and salad dressing and as she turned to make her way out of the kitchen, she slipped, which sent the contents of the tray into the air and subsequently all over the kitchen floor.  Jiya quickly moved to the floor to remove the debris.  She had gotten the bulk of the salad and dressing off of the floor, except for one spot near the refrigerator.  Lucy turned from the island to get the butter from the fridge and her foot slid on the leftover dressing. 

Flynn witnessed the entire ordeal and grabbed her by the waist, steadying her against him before she hit the ground.  She gripped his shirt tightly, most likely out of some reflex and nothing more, yet he really enjoyed how she felt in his arms. 

“You okay?”

The expression she had when she looked up at him caused his heart to melt to goo like a marshmallow over an open flame. 

“My hero,” she uttered in a half-whisper, as her cheeks turned a pinkish hue.

He realized that his arms were still around her waist, yet she hadn’t pulled back. 

“You two gonna stare at each other all night or are you gonna help me?” Jiya teased.

He released his hands from her waist and a twitch came on the second he did.  It was the strangest sensation he’d ever felt.  It was as if his body was exasperated at him for having separated himself from her.  He grinned back at her and chuckled lightly, then grabbed a roll of paper towels from the counter.

After the mess had been cleaned up and dinner for their few guests had been salvaged, the four of them sat down at the kitchen table to eat.  Maria had been unusually quiet as he, Lucy and Jiya chatted idly.

“Everything okay, Mom?” he asked as he leaned toward her.

“Everything is great,” she responded as she patted his forearm in reassurance.

She had been quieter than usual since she got back from the mall and he knew something brewed in that brain of hers.  _Had she noticed his interest in Abby?_   The silence at the table was only periodically broken by the sounds of food being consumed.  It had such an eerie feeling at one point, he thought it must be Halloween or something.  Annoyed by the utter lack of conversation, he plunged in head strong like he did with everything his entire life.

“So, Abby, that reporter can meet with you tomorrow to write the story about you,” he stated as casually as he possibly could.

“Oh, I, uh-I have an appointment with Dr. Mason tomorrow,” Lucy replied.

“What time’s your appointment?” he asked.

“1:30.”

“I could take you to the hospital and then to see the reporter, if you want?” Flynn asked hesitantly.

“I thought you had to work tomorrow?” Maria questioned as she chimed in on the conversation.

“I do,” he answered gruffly.

“Then how can you take Abby to the doctor’s in the middle of the day?” Maria inquired.

_Why the hell was she being so oppositional about this?_

“I’m the chief of police.  I can do whatever I want,” he answered half with pride and half-jokingly.

“Damn!” Jiya exclaimed with a chuckle.

He shot Jiya a look that clearly said “shut the fuck up,” and then turned back to his Mom.

“Is there a problem with me taking her?” he inquired.

“Not at all,” his mother responded with a smile.

“I’d like to get a progress report from Dr. Mason anyway to update our file,” he stated in a very business-like fashion.

“I don’t want to cause any problems,” Lucy stated.

“It’s not a problem.  Like I said, I need to get an update from doc anyway,” he answered.

“Thanks.  That would be great,” she answered with a smile.

_That smile.  That smile killed him every time.  He could get lost in that smile for days._   And try as he might, he knew he’d returned that smile with one of his own, despite his attempts to hide it.

_______________________________________________

The next morning, Lucy stood in her tiny room and stared blankly at the array of new clothes in her closet.  _Why am I freaking out about what to wear?  I’m going to the doctor’s and then meeting with a reporter.  No big deal._   After she vetoed a few outfit choices, she settled on a pair of boot-cut jeans, a green, silk blouse and her brown, high-heeled ankle boots that she had managed to salvage from the accident.  She inspected herself once more in the mirror and then headed downstairs to the kitchen. 

Maria hadn’t wanted Lucy to ruin her new silk blouse, so she refused to allow her to help with the lunch preparations.  She wandered the halls of the inn and investigated the photos that littered the walls.  Most were of the lighthouse, town and harbor areas, but the remainder were of the spectacular marine life that either inhabited or migrated through the area.  The photos were framed and looked professional (as far as she could tell).  At the bottom right hand corner, she saw the words G. Flynn. 

“Maria, did your son take these?” Lucy questioned as she walked back into the kitchen.

“Yes.  It was just a hobby of his.  I don’t think he’s done it in a while, though,” Maria answered.

“They’re really good,” Lucy remarked.

“I thought so.  That’s why I framed them and hung them up.  Guests seem to like them,” Maria responded.

Lucy milled about the kitchen for another few minutes until the door swung open and Garcia strolled in, at exactly 1 p.m. as promised.  He had on his tan, police uniform, complete with gun, baton, radio and handcuffs and she couldn’t help but scrutinize him from head to toe.  _What was it about men in uniform?_   She was brought out of her reverie when his police radio squawked. 

“You ready to go?” he asked her with a shy smile.

“Uh huh,” Lucy mumbled in response.

She forced herself to her feet and followed him out the side door down to the driveway.  Her eyes searched for the squad car, but there wasn’t one there. 

“Where’s your squad car?” she asked.

“I don’t have one.  I’m in the black SUV over there,” he responded as he continued to walk towards it.

“Any specific reason?” she inquired as she tried to make small talk.

“I can barely fit.  I’m the chief now, so I’m not being tortured in one of those things,” he chuckled as he opened the passenger side door for her.

She climbed into the SUV and was about to shut the door when he shut it for her.  When he got in on his side, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 

“You okay?  You look a little on edge.”

“Yeah, I’m just a bit anxious, I guess,” Lucy answered.

They rode the rest of the way to the hospital in total silence, yet she thought she saw him sneak a few peeks in her direction a couple of times.  She was just as guilty as he was and she hoped and prayed that he hadn’t noticed. 

He walked with her to Dr. Mason’s office, but remained outside for her to be examined.  Lucy was ushered into an exam room and she waited for a few minutes before Dr. Mason entered.

“How are we feeling today, Ms. Doe?” Dr. Mason questioned, as he positioned himself on the stool next to the exam table. 

“Well, I’ve had bad headaches a few times the last few days, but they seem to have subsided a little,” she answered.

“How about your memory?  Have you remembered anything from before the accident?” he asked as he inspected her head wound.

“Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I’ve tried so hard and it’s just a blank canvas,” she replied with a heavy sigh.

“Well, perhaps that’s part of the problem.  I know this will be hard, but try not to think about it so much or so hard.  Get out and experience what this town has to offer.  You never know, it could trigger an old memory,” Dr. Mason suggested.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try,” she answered.

“That’s the spirit!  Well, you head wound has healed pretty nicely.  We should be able to take the stitches out in a couple more days.  As for the post-concussion syndrome, keep doing what you’re doing.  If you’re headaches start to become more frequent or are more painful, you need to call me right away, okay?” he instructed.

Lucy nodded her head and forced a small smile back at him. 

“Oh, by the way.  That’s an interesting necklace you’ve got there.  Where did you get it?” Dr. Mason questioned.

Lucy fidgeted with the necklace unconsciously.

“I was wearing it the night of my accident, apparently.  It was in my belongings that the hospital found,” she explained.

“May I?” he asked as he moved closer to her.

“Yes.”

Dr. Mason took the Egyptian cartouche into his hand with a feathery touch and inspected it so closely that he almost choked Lucy.

“This is very interesting,” he stated as he gingerly placed the necklace back on her chest.

“What is?” she asked with eager anticipation.

“According to your necklace, your name is Lucy,” he answered matter-of-factly.

“Lucy?”

“That’s what the hieroglyphs say,” he replied as he stood up.

“You can read this?  It’s not just decorative?” Lucy inquired.

“Yes.  I dabbled in Egyptology for a while.  Anyway, I believe you can customize those necklaces with your own name.  And that definitely says Lucy.  It’s nice to meet you, Lucy Doe,” he stated as he stuck out his hand.

“Lucy.  Lucy Doe,” she replied as she shook his hand.

“Alright then missy. I will see you in two days to remove those stitches.  Call my office if you have any problems, alright?”

Lucy nodded in response.

“Thank you, Dr. Mason.”

_Lucy.  My name is Lucy_. 

 


	4. Crash Into Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy meets with the reporter willing to do a story on her. A new memory surfaces that leaves her rattled. She accepts an invitation which could set her down a path towards love.

Dr. Mason provided Flynn with an update on Lucy’s condition (without disclosure of confidential medical information, of course).  Once that was completed, they walked back to his vehicle, again in silence. 

“So, Abby,”...

“It’s Lucy.”

“What?”

“It’s actually Lucy.  Or so we think,” Lucy stated as she twisted her necklace between her slender fingers.

“You remembered your name?” he asked eagerly.

“No.  Dr. Mason read my necklace.  It says Lucy,” she answered still slightly in awe of this discovery.

“Really?”

“Apparently,” she laughed.

“Maybe, I can have the department look into the necklace angle.  We could get lucky, you never know,” he suggested.

“That’d be great.  I really do appreciate your help,” she answered.

They drove back towards the coast, but turned down Ocean Road in the opposite direction of the inn.

“Where are we going?” Lucy asked with confusion.

“We’re meeting the reporter at The Sea Hag.  It’s a restaurant/bar on the main drag here.  I figured it was better to do it here than at the station,” he explained with a shrug.

“Oh, hell yeah.  Anything’s better than being in that station.  No offense, but the place gives me the creeps,” Lucy admitted.

He chuckled in response and then pulled the SUV into a parking spot on the street.  The Sea Hag was situated on the corner of a strip of other stores.  Everything was definitely small and quaint around here. The building was painted in a blueish hue and the wooden exterior was reminiscent of a dock or wharf.  The inside was decorated in a nautical theme, complete with the stereotypical ship’s wheel and fishing nets.  A man in his 50’s with salt and pepper hair and a suit sat on the bench in the waiting area. 

“Hey Charlie,” Flynn called as he walked towards the man.

“Chief Flynn,” Charlie replied as he stood and extended his hand.

The restaurant had a few patrons scattered throughout the place and a few locals were perched upon stools at the bar.  An attractive blonde tended bar and a slightly older, red-headed woman had her head buried in a tablet next to her.  The blonde woman elbowed the red-haired woman in the side and had tried her best to not be obvious about it.  Lucy saw the entire exchange. 

“Garcia!” she exclaimed with a huge smile as she exited the bar area and strolled towards the three of them. 

“Hey, Emma.  I need a table somewhere quiet.  In the back maybe?” he asked.

“Sure thing,” she replied as she grabbed three menus and led them to a table in the back half of the restaurant.

Lucy sat down in the booth first and Flynn sat next to her.  Charlie took the seat opposite of Lucy on the other side of the booth.  He extended his hand across the table towards her.

“Charlie Gardner,” he stated as he shook her hand.

“Lucy,” she simply stated in return.

“Lucy?  I thought you said her name was Abby?” he asked Flynn in confusion.

Lucy explained the situation about her necklace and told Charlie about her accident.  The red-haired woman that Garcia had referred to as Emma, came back to the table and took their drink order.  She returned with their drinks a few moments later and then took their lunch order.  Charlie asked if he could take a picture of her to use for his news story.  Lucy could see Emma’s intent gaze the entire time she talked to Charlie.  She couldn’t shake the bad vibes she got from her.  She didn’t know this woman (as far as she knew, anyway), so what could she have possibly done to piss her off?  When Emma arrived with their food in tow, she almost slammed Lucy’s salad down onto the table, but claimed it slipped from her hand.  Lucy watched as she placed Flynn’s burger onto the table with the gentleness of a lamb.

“Is this an official police outing?” Emma asked Flynn in an attempt to elicit more information.

It was at that moment everything clicked for Lucy.  Emma liked him.  She was jealous.  She wanted to know if Flynn was there _with_ Lucy. 

“Actually, it is.  Emma, this is Lucy Doe,” he stated as he introduced the two women.

“Oh, you’re the amnesia girl!” Emma exclaimed, a little too happily.

Lucy took that as an insult, even if it wasn’t intended to be.

“Yes, that’s me,” Lucy replied as she shook Emma’s hand.

“Well, I do hope you get your memories back and find your way home,” Emma stated with a smile.

_Oh, I bet you do hope I “find my way home.”_   _Less competition for a certain police chief’s affections_. 

After they had finished their lunch, Charlie paid the bill and then said his goodbye, which left Lucy and Flynn at the table alone. 

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked with a slight chuckle.

Lucy could see Emma as she watched them from her perch at the bar.  Emboldened by some sense of confidence that manifested in her suddenly, she placed her hand over Flynn’s and looked right at him.

“Thanks to you,” she stated softly.

Emma’s eyes almost bugged completely out of her head, which gave Lucy some semblance of self-satisfaction.  _She shouldn’t be doing this.  Why was she doing this?_   Yes, she was attracted to him.  He was a good-looking man, how could she not be?  But, she knew she couldn’t act on her feelings.  She had no idea if she was married or in a relationship and it wouldn’t be fair to either of them to start something she wouldn’t be able to finish.  Flynn flinched lightly when she touched him, which forced her to pull back almost as fast.  _Did he flinch in repulsion or did she just startle him?_  

The next thing Lucy knew, Emma stood next to their table with an annoyed expression on her face. 

“Garcia, are you coming to the Halloween party this year?” Emma inquired.

“I doubt it.  That’s not really my thing,” he answered to her disappointment.

“A costume party?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah.  We have a big party on the bar side and it’s always a good time.  I’m sure you’ll probably be home by then,” she responded with a wave of her hand. 

“Maybe not.  I like it here.  I may just stick around,” Lucy replied with a sly smile.

Flynn’s head shot up and he looked directly into Lucy’s eyes when she said that.  It wasn’t a lie.  If she didn’t remember, she planned to stay here. 

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll think about it,” he muttered.

Emma smiled back at him, and him _only_. 

“Well, I’ve gotta get back to work.  You ready, Lucy?” he asked as he held out a hand to help her out of the booth.

She took his hand willingly, as he pulled her towards him.  Emma gave her the stink-eye as they walked side by side out the door.  Internally, Lucy celebrated her hollow victory.  _What was she trying to prove exactly?_   She had no idea.  Her entire life was up in the air and all she felt like she tried to do was find an anchor.  Flynn dropped her back off at the inn and went on his way back to work.  She hoped she might see him later that night, but had no such luck.

______________________________

Tires screeched, the car swerved and slammed into the guardrail.  The jolt from the collision caused Lucy’s head to snap back and then forward into the airbag.  Pain.  The car continued to careen down as her brain registered a tree dead ahead.  She fumbled with the door.  Finally, she got it opened and jumped.  Wham.  More pain.  Blood and darkness.

Panicked, Lucy forced her eyes open.  She was in her room, safe, at the inn.  It was a nightmare.  Or was it?  It was so life-like.  She had wanted to regain her memories, but memories of the crash were not what she hoped for.  Maybe it was a start.  Maybe the dam was about to break. 

Lucy found it hard to get back to sleep.  She continuously replayed the accident in her head.  _How had the police not found her car yet?  How far had she traveled on foot?_   _How long would these nightmare memories haunt her?_   She tossed and turned for about another twenty minutes and in a huff of defeat, stared at the clock.  It was 5:30 in the morning.  Lucy rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but instead she only stared at the ceiling. 

At 6:00 a.m., she got up, pulled on her new, black leggings and her long, gray sweater.  Still clad in her slippers, she tip-toed downstairs to the kitchen and made some coffee.  Once the coffee had brewed, she grabbed one of the books that Maria had lent her and made her way to the rocking chair on the front porch.  The sky sulked a cloudy gray color.  The morning air was crisp, with an occasional sea breeze that sent chills down her spine.  Nevertheless, she curled up on the rocking chair with her book and coffee mug.

A while later she heard a car and looked up from her book to find a familiar black SUV.  He parked in the driveway and got out of the car as he stared at her with a puzzled expression.

“A little early for you, isn’t it?” Flynn asked as he strolled up the walk towards her.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Lucy replied.

“Ah…”

“What are you doing here so early?” Lucy questioned.

“I hadn’t planned to stop here.  I only stopped because I saw you on the porch.  I’m going to the harbor to take the boat out,” he explained.

“Oh.  That sounds nice.  I hope you have a good time,” Lucy responded with a smile.

She reopened her book and looked down at it as she sipped her coffee again.

“Ab-Lucy.  Do you want to come with me?” he asked hesitantly.

She looked up from her book and smiled.

“I think I will,” she stated confidently, “I just…”

She stuck her foot out which showcased her slippers.

He chuckled in acknowledgment.

“Are you laughing at my slippers?” Lucy joked as she stood up from the rocking chair.

“Why don’t you just wear boots?  What are those things?” he laughed.

Lucy peered down at her feet.  The slippers were extraordinarily large, she had to give him that.  They were more ankle boots than anything, but her feet were always cold, so she thought additional coverage would be a good idea.  She rolled her eyes and strolled towards the front door.

“I’ll be right back.  Just let me go put on some shoes,” she advised.

“And a jacket.  It gets cold out there,” he informed.

“Right,” she replied with a pointed finger as she disappeared into the house.

______________________________

_What had he just done?  He would have shaved if he knew he’d be with Lucy._   He rubbed his stubble in irritation.  He hadn’t planned this at all.  If he had, he would’ve made _sure_ it was a date.  Food and blankets would have been packed and he certainly wouldn’t have been dressed in green cargo pants and a black turtleneck.  _Fuck._   The whole thing was made ten times worse by the fact that even at the crack of dawn and with no makeup, Lucy was still beautiful.  Even in those ridiculous slippers, she was beautiful.  _Who was he kidding, she could be wearing a paper bag and he’d think she was beautiful._  

Lucy reappeared a few minutes later, clad in rain boots.  She had pulled her hair up into a ponytail and had thrown on a light jacket.  They walked side by side to the car and he opened the passenger side door for her.  Once she was safely inside, he shut the door.  He had to remind himself to breathe as he walked to the driver’s side.  It had been a _long_ time since he had been alone like this with a woman he was interested in.  Nervous didn’t even cover it.  _Don’t screw this up._

It was a short drive from the inn to the harbor.  They parked the car and walked along the boat slips until he stopped and boarded a decent sized cabin cruiser.  He turned and extended his hand to help Lucy board.  She took his hand willingly and that same pulse-like sensation shot down his arm when their hands met.  Once Lucy was safely on board, he turned and reached down to one of the bench seats at the stern and opened up a compartment.  He pulled out an orange lifejacket and tossed it at Lucy, which she caught after she juggled the vest slightly. 

“Safety first,” he jested.

Lucy put the lifejacket on and smiled back at him. 

“This is really, really nice.  Not what I expected at all,” she admitted.

“I’m afraid to ask what you were expecting then,” he quipped.

“I don’t know.  I guess more of a fishing vessel than pleasure boat,” she confessed in embarrassment.

“There’s no way my mother would ever have stepped foot on here if that was the case,” he answered with a smirk.

Lucy giggled in response with a shake of her head. 

“Be my guest to check it out.  I’m going to get us ready to go,” he advised.

Lucy inspected the cockpit area and then disappeared into the cabin below.  He was about to undo the ropes that moored the boat to the dock, when he remembered one item he had forgotten in the car.  He called down into the cabin to let Lucy know he had to run to the car real fast, but he’d be right back. 

When he reached the SUV, he opened the door to the back seat and removed his camera bag.  He hadn’t taken pictures in so long, but for some reason he grabbed the bag this morning.  He slung the bag over his shoulder, shut and locked the door and then made his way back to the boat.  As he climbed on board, Lucy ascended the stairs from the cabin below.

“You’ve got a bed, a kitchen and a bathroom down there?” Lucy asked in amazement.

“Yes,” he answered.

“I didn’t realize being a police chief in a small town could be so lucrative,” she blurted out before she clamped her hand over her mouth in embarrassment.

“It’s not,” he replied.

“I’m sorry-I shouldn’t have…”

“It’s okay,” he chucked, “I used to work in private security.  I figured if I was going to live on the Oregon coast, a boat was pretty much needed, so I bought it,” he explained.

“Did you live in Texas too?” Lucy asked.

“When I was little, I did, sometimes.  My father is Croatian, so I grew up there, but spent summers with my family in Texas.  Lived in DC for a while too, when I worked for the government,” he stated.

“So, what made you want to move here then, if you don’t mind me asking?” Lucy inquired.

“Well, my mom moved here to be closer to my brother after my dad passed, but he wasn’t really spending any time with her.  I wanted to make sure she was okay, and I was looking to put down roots again, so I decided to move here.  It wasn’t easy.  I lost my wife and my daughter, but having my mom around helped a little,” he informed.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.  I didn’t know,” Lucy replied.

“It’s okay.  It was five years ago.  It will always hurt, but every day it hurts a little less,” he confessed.

“How?”

“How did it happen?  Home invasion.  My daughter was only five years old,” he replied as he stared through Lucy to the open water.

“I’m so, so sorry Garcia,” Lucy said as she placed her hand on his forearm. 

Her touch snapped him back to reality.  He placed his hand gently over hers.

“Thank you, Lucy.”

He pulled his hand back and gestured for her to take a seat.  He untied the ropes and started the engine.

“Hopefully, we’ll get to see something today.  Most of the gray whales have already migrated, but we still have a chance to see some of the other area wildlife,” he announced.

Lucy smiled back at him and it was as if the clouds in the sky had lifted and sunshine beamed through.  He had no idea how she felt about him, and he still had his reservations about a romantic entanglement with someone who didn’t really know who they were.  On the other hand, he had never felt this way before, and longed to relish in the sunlight of her smile.  He navigated the boat out of the harbor and passed the lighthouse.  As they journeyed further and further out to sea, he saw Lucy had closed her eyes and tilted her head up into the sea breeze as she took in the fresh morning air.

After a short while, he stopped the engine at a spot close to one of the buoys that scattered the coastline. 

“Have you ever been on a boat before?” he asked as dropped the anchor into the water.

“Just like everything else, I have no idea,” she answered with a chuckle.

She had chuckled, but he could tell her lack of memory bothered her.  And why wouldn’t it?  He still can’t begin to imagine how frustrated she must be. 

“Well, this spot is my secret spot.  In the early morning, the sea otters congregate around the reef over there,” he said as he pointed the spot out to Lucy.

“Sea otters?  They’re so cute!” Lucy squealed.

“The otters use that reef as a hunting ground.  They love to chow down on those rocks.  And sometimes in the afternoon, if you’re lucky, you can spot dolphins as they swim up and down the coastline,” he informed her.

Lucy virtually glowed with excitement.  She moved to the bow of the boat to obtain a better view of the reef.  Instinctively, he grabbed his camera, draped it around his neck with its strap and joined her.  Sure enough, a fuzzy, teddy bear-like, brown head popped out of the water on the side of the rocks on cue.  The otter floated on its back, with a clam clasped between its paws.  It pounded the clam against a rock on its chest.  Flynn snapped picture after picture as the shutter flew open and shut with precision.  Lucy turned to look at him with a surprised look.

“So, you’re the photographer,” Lucy exclaimed.

Flynn paused and chuckled loudly.

“You thought it was my brother, didn’t you?” he asked.

“I did.  I’m sorry,” Lucy answered as she lowered her head in embarrassment.

“I get it.  The architect is also the photographer.  Makes more sense than the cop being one, I guess.  You’re not the first person who I’ve surprised, and most likely you won’t be the last either,” he laughed.

He resumed his photography session and Lucy turned back to the otter.  He moved to his left and could get both the otter and Lucy in frame perfectly.  Unable to stop himself, he took a few snapshots of the two of them and a bunch more close-ups of Lucy.  The ocean breeze played with a stray strand of her hair that had escaped the grasp of her ponytail and shadowed her cheek as it blew.  He managed to capture the shadow at the perfect moment and he had never witnessed anything more beautiful in his entire life.  Lucy was so intently enthralled with the otter and he with her, that neither of them noticed a storm gathered off in the distance.  The waves that had lapped against the hull now crashed into it instead, which rocked the boat from side to side.  Lucy lost her balance and he grabbed her quickly and pulled her against him.  She gripped his shirt like she had that time in the kitchen.  He was so close to her and her lips beckoned him like a bee to honey.  He wanted to taste those lips in the worse way and might have given in, but Mother Nature had other ideas. 

The skies opened and rained poured down upon them, as they both stood there frozen in each other’s arms.  The waves became choppier and he knew it was unsafe for them to be out there any longer.  Reluctantly, he let go of her, pulled up anchor and started the engine.  They would both be completely soaked by the time they reached land, but neither seemed to care at the moment.  They continued to laugh and Lucy even did some silly rain dance as she held onto the railing for dear life.  _I so wish I could’ve gotten photos of that!_   And even though the weather hadn’t exactly cooperated with his day out, at least he didn’t screw it up royally, which comforted him slightly. 

 


	5. Raincheck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn asks Lucy to dinner. Lucy and Jiya enjoy a girls’ night out together. Maria asks Lucy for a huge favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long to update. Work has been crazy busy.

It was the late morning and Maria was in the kitchen, when the door opened and a soaked Lucy and Flynn rushed in from the rain. 

“Oh my word,” Maria stated with surprise.

They both just giggled with delight at the sight of themselves.

Maria eyed them suspiciously.  “You were out on the boat in this?”

Flynn and Lucy met each other’s gaze and chuckled. 

“We didn’t plan to be.”

“I’m going to go take and shower and change,” Lucy stated with a smirk still written all over her face, as she left the kitchen and headed back to her room.

Maria turned to Flynn with a disapproving look.  “Are you going to stand there and drip all over my floor all day?”

“I guess not.  I’m gonna go home and get changed.”

“See you when you get back,” Maria advised with a wink.

“I didn’t say I was coming back, did I?”

“No, but I know you will.”

_She was right, of course she was.  He’d run home, change and be back as fast as he could.  Stupid weather ruined his perfect day with Lucy._ He smiled back as he opened the door and dashed out into the rain. 

He went home, showered, changed and drove back to the inn as quickly as he could.  Maybe, just maybe, he could spend more time with Lucy today.  As hard as he tried, she consumed his thoughts.  The more he got to know her, the more he liked her.  Lucy, had become his drug of choice.  It was as if he floated in the clouds when she was near.  And the few times she had been in his arms, were absolutely heavenly.  _This doesn’t just happen.  This isn’t supposed to be possible.  How do you fall for someone so quickly?_  

When he arrived back at the inn, Lucy was back in the kitchen with his mom, as they chowed down on bowls of hot soup.

“Soup’s on the stove,” his mother advised.

“Thanks.”

He strolled over to the stove and inhaled deeply at the savory scent that streamed from it.   He grabbed a bowl, ladled a helping of soup, and sat down at the table with the two women.  His foot accidentally kicked Lucy’s when he sat, which of course, mortified him immediately.

“I’m so, sorry.  I didn’t mean to kick you,” he stated with sad puppy dog eyes.

Lucy chuckled and beamed her signature smile back at him.  “It’s okay.  Trees need room to spread their roots.”

“Ha ha, very funny.  This tree will remember that the next time you can’t reach something in the cabinet.”

Lucy rolled her eyes in response before they both broke out in laughter.  “Today was fun, even if I got soaked.”

“I’m glad.  Sorry the weather was lousy.  Maybe, I can take you out again before it gets too cold.  That is, if you’d want to?” Flynn questioned hesitantly as he braced for her rejection.

“Yes, I’d love to.  I need to see my little buddy again.”

“Your little buddy?” Maria questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“The sea otter.  He was just too cute.  Did you happen to get a picture of me with him in the background?”

“I think so,” Flynn responded.

“A picture?  You took pictures today?” Maria inquired.

“Yeah.  I got some good close ups of the otter.”

_I also got a lot of close ups of Lucy, but no one needs to know that_. 

The phone rang and Maria got up from the table and answered it.  She put the person on hold and then disappeared down the hallway to the front desk. 

“Lucy, do you maybe want to have dinner with me tonight?”

“I would love to, but I already made plans to go to the bar with Jiya.  You could come with us if you wanted?”

“That’s okay.  I don’t want to crash your girls’ night.”

“Raincheck?”

“Sure.”

_Raincheck.  She asked for a raincheck.  It’s not a yes, but not exactly a flat out no either_.  This prospect excited him the most.  A glimmer of hope.  And then the voice of reason kicked in.  _You shouldn’t do this.  She could be a married woman.  How would you feel if you were her husband?  Oh, the husband that doesn’t seem to care that she’s gone missing? That husband?_   His internal monologue did _not_ help.  On the one hand, he found it hard to believe that a beautiful, smart woman like that was all alone in this world.  On the other hand, he selfishly wanted that to be the case. 

“Well, I promised your mom I would wash the guest towels today, so I better get on that,” she said as she stood from the table. 

“Have fun tonight, Lucy!” he yelled after her as she was halfway down the hall. 

He had gotten up to use the bathroom and when he reentered the kitchen, he found his mother sitting at the table as she flipped through his camera.

“What-”

Maria peered up at him with a sarcastic smirk on her face.  “I like the _two_ otter pictures, but I see the rest of your morning was occupied by another type of muse.”

“Mom!” he shrieked as he snatched the camera from her hands.

She tried her best to keep a straight face.  “What?  You’ve never cared when I looked at your pictures before.”

“Mom!”

It was the only word that his brain seemed to be able to form.  His face flushed bright red from embarrassment.  He felt like he had regressed back into a teenager again.  Memories of his mother when she’d discovered the love poems he wrote about the girl he liked, flooded back into his brain. 

“It’s nothing.  I just was inspired at the time.”

He lied.  He lied straight to his own mother’s face.  She didn’t buy it for a second.

“Uh huh.”

________________________________

Jiya knocked on Lucy’s door later that evening.  When Lucy opened the door, Jiya had a grin on her face like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

“You ready?”

“Yep.  Why are you so happy?” Lucy questioned.

“It’s a Friday night and I have off for once.  _Plus_ , I have a girlfriend to go to the bar with now,” Jiya answered with a slight squeal.

They walked the couple of blocks to The Sea Hag.  Lucy crinkled her nose when she saw where they were going.

“Something wrong?”

Lucy shrugged.  “No.  It’s fine.  I just got the distinct idea that the owner didn’t like me very much when I was here last.”

“Emma?  She’s a nasty bitch.  I’d be hard pressed to find someone she actually did like.  Forget her,” Jiya declared as she opened the door to the bar side of the establishment.

_Oh, I bet I could name one such individual she likes._

They grabbed a table towards the back of the bar, near the pool table and dart board.  Jiya bought the first round of beers and the girls decided they would play pool once the current occupants of the table finished their game.  They had just racked the billiard balls and Jiya was about to break, when Rufus and Wyatt walked over. 

“Hi, Jiya,” Rufus said shyly as he shuffled his feet.

“Hey, Rufus.  Hey, Wyatt.  You guys just hanging out tonight?” Jiya questioned.

Rufus could barely maintain eye contact with Jiya.  “Yeah, figured we’d grab a few beers and play some pool.”

“Why don’t you guys join us?  You both know Lucy, right?”

“We’ve never met officially,” Wyatt laughed, “I only know her as Jane Doe.”

Lucy proudly extended her hand for him to shake “Lucy Doe.”

“Nice to ‘officially’ meet you, Lucy.  My name is Wyatt.”

The four of them played a few games of pool, had a few more beers and seemed to all be having a genuine good time.  Jiya excused herself from the table to use the ladies room and Lucy waited until she was out of ear shot before she cornered Rufus.

“So, Rufus, you ever going to ask Jiya out?”

Wyatt literally choked on his beer and almost spit it out of his mouth.

“Wha-what?” Rufus responded as his eyes bugged out.

“Oh, come on.  It’s blatantly obvious that you like her.”

Rufus just sat there speechless.  He was about to respond, but Jiya had walked back from the bathroom and was almost to their table.

“Yeah, Rufus.  It’s not hard to ask a woman out.  Lucy, do you want to have dinner with me?” Wyatt asked.

Jiya sat back down next to Lucy, who giggled in response to Wyatt’s statement.

Wyatt leaned across the table.  “Well, do you?”

Lucy’s cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment.  “Oh, you were being serious.  I’m sorry.  I thought you were joking.  I would, but I’m not sure that’s such a great idea.”

“Why not?” Wyatt questioned as he took another swig of his beer.

“Well, I could be married or in a serious relationship.  I have no idea.  I don’t think it would be particularly fair to either party.”

Suddenly, Rufus grabbed Lucy’s left hand and inspected it.

“I doubt you’re married.”

Lucy was taken aback by him being so forward with her and she flinched when he seized her hand. 

“Wh-what?  Why?” Lucy stammered as she stared at him like a deer caught in car headlights.

“You’re ring finger has no tan line or indentation from any wedding ring.  Plus, you said your necklace survived the crash, so any ring would’ve remained on your hand.  It would take more force to take off a ring than a necklace.”

“Oh, I…”

Lucy looked down at her left hand.  She honestly had never considered that before.  Everything Rufus said made perfect sense.

“Okay, so now that we’ve established you’re not married, will you go to dinner with me?  Even if you have some boyfriend, he can’t get that pissed about just going to dinner, right?”  Wyatt asked.

Lucy chuckled.  “I guess not.”

“Great.  I have off next Saturday night.  Are you free then?”

“I should be barring some unforeseen circumstance.”

“I obviously missed something,” Jiya interjected.

She had silently listened to the entire conversation, unable to follow what exactly was going on.  They all just laughed in response, which left Jiya slightly pissed.

“It’s okay Jiya.  All you missed was Wyatt being an asshole,” Rufus stated as he gave his friend the death glare.

“Oh, so nothing new,” Jiya joked.

“Hey!” Wyatt yelled as he threw a beer cap at her. 

They stayed a little longer at the bar and then all decided to call it a night.  Rufus and Wyatt insisted on walking Lucy and Jiya back to the inn.  The four of them donned their jackets and trekked out into the cold, crisp, night air.  As they crested the top of the hill that led to the inn, they noticed red and white flashing lights coming from the inn’s driveway.  As they got closer, they could see plainly that it was an ambulance.  As they reached the inn, they saw two paramedics as they pushed Maria in a stretcher toward the back of the ambulance. 

“Maria!” Jiya screamed as she ran up the driveway to find out what had happened.

Lucy followed behind her, as Rufus and Wyatt stood to the side, not sure of what either of them should do. 

“Jiya, I’m okay,” Maria stated unconvincingly.

“What happened?” Lucy asked as she caught up to Jiya and Maria.

Maria winced in pain as the paramedics lifted the stretcher into the ambulance.  “I tripped on the stairs and am pretty sure that my foot is broken.”

“Where’s Garcia?” Jiya asked her as she looked around for him.

“Oh, there’s no need to bother him.  I’m just going to go to the hospital and I’ll call you when I’m done.”

“I’m coming with you,” Jiya declared as she jumped up into the back of the ambulance.

“Lucy, can you take care of the inn?  I hate to ask…”

“Consider it done, Maria.  No problem.  I’ve got it,” Lucy replied with assurance.

________________________________

When Jiya called him, he had just sat down on the couch to read some new book that Denise had recommended.  He shot up from the couch, put his shoes back on and rushed over to the hospital.  He thanked Jiya for calling him and figured he’d wait to see how bad his mom was before he chastised her for not calling him.  Maria had been correct that she suffered a fracture, but it turned out to be her ankle.  Luckily, the doctors seemed to think she wouldn’t require surgery, just immobilization.  They placed Maria in a boot, gave her crutches and told her she would be non-weight bearing for a few weeks.  Flynn managed to get Maria into the SUV with the help of an orderly.  He dropped Jiya off at her apartment, even though she insisted to come back to the inn to help out.

“Jiya, you’re still drunk.  I can smell the alcohol on you still,” Flynn stated emphatically.

Jiya finally relented and allowed Flynn to take her home, after she promised she would be back early tomorrow.  Once they arrived back at the inn, Flynn carried Maria into the kitchen and set her down on one of the chairs as he went and retrieved her crutches.  Lucy heard the kitchen door when it opened and rushed down the hall from the front desk.

Lucy sported a sympathetic frown when she noted the boot on Maria’s foot.  “Maria, how are you?  I’m guessing it’s broken?”

“Unfortunately, it is.  I’m glad you’re down here.  I wanted to talk to you about something,” Maria stated in a hushed tone.

The kitchen door opened again and Flynn walked in with Maria’s crutches in one hand and a pharmacy bag in the other.  He hadn’t expected to see Lucy again tonight and he stopped dead in his tracks once he did.

“Lucy, I will obviously be out of commission for a while.  I would like you and Jiya to run the inn for me in the meantime.  Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”

“Mom!  You can’t ask that of Lucy.  What if we find out who she is?” Flynn questioned.

“It’s fine.  I can do it.  I promise that even if I do remember who I am, or even if you find out who I am, I won’t leave you in the lurch,” Lucy exclaimed with a shy smile.

“See!” Maria exclaimed as she gave him the side-eye, “Fantastic.  It’s settled then.  You’ll have to do the bulk of the work in the day, but Jiya will be here at night and I’m sure she’ll try to help out as much as she can.”

It’s not that he wasn’t thankful that Lucy would be here to help, because he was, but if there was any hope for him to not fall completely head over heels for her, it just flew right out the window.  The longer she was here and the more time he spent with her, the faster his descent into the depths of despondent devotion.  _There’s just no way she’s unattached to anyone.  She wasn’t beamed down from Neptune.  Or, maybe she was an alien, because he had never met a woman like her in his entire life_. 

“And Garcia will help too, won’t you?” Maria stated more than asked.

“Of course, Mom.”

“Can I help with anything right now?” Lucy questioned.

“Can you help me get her situated up in her room?”

“Sure.”

Flynn carried Maria up to her bedroom, as Lucy trailed behind them and carried the crutches.  They made sure she was comfortable in her bed, elevated her leg on a pillow and put on the TV for her.  He had always known that his mom was a tough and resilient woman, but the brave face she continued to put on in what must be excruciating pain amazed him.  He made sure her cell phone was next to her on the nightstand.  Lucy had snuck downstairs and reappeared with a glass of water.  It was these little acts of kindness that impressed him the most about her.  She genuinely wanted to help and cared about other people.  A rare quality, especially these days.  It just felt so right with Lucy here, that he had started to convince himself that this is where she belonged. 

“I forgot her pain meds.  I’ll be right back,” he said as he got up from the edge of the bed and made his way to the doorway.

Lucy fluffed Maria’s pillow a little. “Don’t worry.  I will take care of everything.  You just rest.”

“It’s a long time, Lucy.  You have to man the front desk for the rest of the night since Jiya’s off and then go right into tomorrow until she gets here.  Are you sure you can handle it?” Maria questioned as she winced again in pain as she tried in vain to find a comfortable position.

“Absolutely.  Plus, if I have any questions, you’re right here,” Lucy answered as she waved goodnight and disappeared back out into the hallway.

He had heard their entire conversation not on purpose, but because he had paused in the hallway to think if there was anything else his mom would need.  When he heard Lucy’s footsteps, he rushed down the stairs and almost knocked directly into one of the guests.

“Excuse me.  Do you know where I can find the staff?” the elderly woman asked in a huff.

“Oh, yes, um…”

Lucy suddenly appeared behind him on the stairs.

“Lucy, can you?”

“Mrs. Adams, what can I do for you?” Lucy asked with a smile as she took the woman’s hand in hers.

“Lucy, dear, is there a way I can get some more towels?”

“Of course.  How many do you need?”

“Two?”

“No problem.  I will bring them up to your room in a minute, okay?”

“You’re so sweet,” she replied as she patted Lucy’s arm and made her way back upstairs to her room.

He had watched the entire exchange from the kitchen doorway, unable to take his eyes off of Lucy.  She was magnetic and drew everyone in.  Lucy turned down the opposite hallway towards the laundry room and he went back upstairs with his mom’s prescription in hand.  Besides his mom’s injury, the scenario felt routine, a vision of a potential future almost.  A future he dared not dream about, but a future that danced in his dreams nonetheless.  A future he now desperately desired. 

“Are you alright?” Maria asked as he handed her one of the pain pills.

“Yes.  Just worried about you,” he answered as he looked down at the comforter.

Maria placed her hand over his.  “Garcia, you always were a terrible liar.  What’s wrong?”

“Just hoping that Lucy keeps her promise and sticks around to help.”

It wasn’t a complete lie.  He had worried about that too.  What had him worried the most, was how hard and how fast he had fallen for her already.  Now, he would undoubtedly be spending even more time around her.  He was so screwed.  His mother looked back at him as if she would attempt to argue that point, but then winced again in pain.  She shifted her hip to the left and repositioned the covers.  Flynn leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. 

“I love you.  Goodnight, Mom.  I’ll check on you a little later,” he whispered as she closed her eyes.

“You’re staying over?”

“Yeah.  I’ll see you in the morning,” he stated as she shut off the light and shut her door.

He shuffled back downstairs to the kitchen, where he found Lucy as she filled the tea kettle with water.  He watched as she silently placed the kettle on the stove, turned it on and opened the cabinet.  He sat down at the table, his brain in a fog.  The silence was broken when the kettle whistled.  When he glanced back up, Lucy stood in front of him, two mugs in her hands.  Without a word, she offered him one of the mugs.

“Tea.”

“Thanks,” he answered with a small smile of his own, unable to muster a larger one at the moment.

Lucy placed her hand over his as she took the seat directly next to him.

“It’s all going to be okay,” she whispered softly.

Her hand didn’t move.  The way that he felt by just the slightest touch of her skin on his was both magical and terrifying.  Their little moment together was shortly interrupted by an elderly gentleman who had wandered into the kitchen.

“Mr. Adams.  What can I help you with?” Lucy asked as she looked over from the table at the man.

“Lucy, does Maria have any more of those chocolate chip cookies left?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“In the cookie jar on the counter there.  Help yourself.”

The man opened the cookie jar and took out two large cookies.

“Don’t tell my wife I was down here,” he instructed.

Lucy winked.  “Your secret is safe with me.”

Her interactions with the guests just illustrated what a beautiful person she was, inside _and_ out.  It was why her interactions with him gave him pause.  Was she just being kind to him or was she possibly interested in him?  If he misread the situation, it would make things _really_ awkward around here.  He had always been bad at knowing when a woman was interested in him.   It didn’t matter right now anyway, because it wasn’t the right time.  Today had started out so wonderful, with Lucy on the boat, and had ended with him worried about his mom.  Yet, for some reason, with Lucy there with him, the inevitable difficulties he was about to encounter seemed less daunting. 

Mr. Adams retired back to his room with his cookies stashed in a paper towel in his bathrobe. 

“I’m going to run home for a second and grab some clothes and stuff.  I’ll be back in a little bit.  You going to be okay?”

“Take your time,” Lucy waved.

He _knew_ he wouldn’t.  Time spent without Lucy _was_ wasted time.  Plus, the faster he made it back here, the more time alone he would have with Lucy, while the rest of the inn slept soundly.

 


	6. Red, Red Wine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy panics under the weight of her newfound responsibilities. Lucy and Flynn share an intimate moment. Flynn’s feelings for Lucy grow deeper. Lucy goes to dinner with Wyatt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas to all my beloved Garcy family!

_What had she just gotten herself into?_   She had promised both Maria and Garcia she would help run the inn while Maria was incapacitated, but she had no idea how to do that.  Sure, she knew Jiya and Garcia would help as much as they could, but the bulk of the work and responsibility would fall to her.  She had helped with the laundry a few times at this point and knew how the dining room should be set up for meal services.  What worried her the most was the actual preparation of said meals.  She checked the dining schedule and immediately began to panic.  Saturday and Sunday’s breakfasts were much more involved and complicated from the weekday breakfasts.  How was she supposed to make pancakes, sausage, bacon, omelets, quiche, frittatas and waffles? 

With her memory lacking in almost every area, she wondered if she could cook at all.  Perhaps she was a fantastic cook and she wouldn’t feel as overwhelmed as she currently did.  _But if she wasn’t?_   She had started to feel one of her headaches coming on, when the kitchen door opened and Garcia strolled through.  He had a suitcase in one hand and a garment bag in the other.  She can only imagine the expression that must have been on her face, as his soft expression turned to one of concern when he looked at her.

“What’s wrong, Lucy?”

“I-I guess I’m just a little overwhelmed by the weekend breakfast menu.”

“Don’t worry.  We’ll get it done.  That’s why I’m here, to help.”

His soft smile melted away her worry like the warm sun on a winter’s day.  She took a deep breath and nodded her head. 

“We’ve got time.  Why don’t you start with setting up the dining room, since you already know how to do that?  I’ll get the kitchen prepped and ready to start cooking.  We’re going to take it one step at a time, okay?”

“Absolutely!”

Relief washed over her like the waves outside.  She couldn’t explain it, but anytime Garcia was around, she felt less anxiety and panic over her situation.  He anchored her, soothed her, calmed her.  She still wasn’t able to read him completely, but he seemed to have slowly relaxed his walls around her. 

Once she had finished the dining room set up, she made her way back to the kitchen and found Garcia had everything prepped and ready to go.

“Okay, what now?” she asked.

“Can you cut the bread over there?  We’ll use some for regular toast and the rest for the French toast.”

She thought she could handle that.  They tried to keep the noise down, so as to not disturb any of the guests, but they found it hard to keep themselves from laughing.  They worked well together, sometimes silently and sometimes instinctively knowing just what the other wanted.  Lucy obviously had nothing to compare it to, but she knew she had feelings for him.  What she didn’t know, was whether she should act on those feelings or not.  _What if he didn’t like her like that and was only being nice to her?  What if he did like her like that and she found out she was already in a relationship?  Would that be fair to him?  Would he think she just used him as a placeholder while she lingered in memory limbo?_  

As the morning drew on, Lucy had been instructed to flip the sausage and bacon, while Garcia made the waffle and pancake batters.  She was lost in her conflicted thoughts about Garcia, when suddenly the smoke alarm went off.  Startled back to reality by the noise, she looked down to see the bacon was burnt.  _Crap!_   Panic set into her quickly, and she froze in place momentarily before she turned around to ask Garcia for help.  When she turned she slammed into his chest.  He was right behind her and she hadn’t heard him approach at all.  He grabbed her by the waist to catch her.  As she stared straight ahead at his black turtleneck, the strangest thing happened.  She sat at a table across from a man, who smiled back at her.  His face was blurred, but he appeared to be around her age and had dark black hair.  She said something about how she cooked dinner for him and he responded with an uncontrollable laugh.  Then the man stated that he doubted that was the case because the kitchen was still standing.

“Lucy?  Lucy?”

Garcia’s voice brought her back to reality.  _Another memory.  She’d had another memory._

“Earth to Lucy.”

“Huh?”

“Are you alright?  You were somewhere else for a little while,” he said with a concerned look on his face.

“Yeah, sorry.  I think I just had a memory.”

“I hope it was a good one.  It certainly didn’t turn out well for the bacon, though.”

“Oh no!” Lucy exclaimed as she broke free from his grasp.

“It’s alright.  We have more.  I’ll finish up here.  Why don’t you take out the pitcher of orange juice to the dining room and get ready to take the guests’ breakfast orders?”

She just shook her head in response, removed her apron in a mechanical manner and grabbed the pitcher of orange juice.  This memory was the first that had come back to her since the accident, except for the one where she had a memory of the _actual_ accident.  Not only did it confirm she was hazardous in the kitchen, but it also gave her pause.  _Who was the man?  Was he an old flame, a current boyfriend or perhaps just a friend?_

She managed to plaster a smile on for the guests as she took their breakfast orders.  She knew Garcia sensed the change in her.  He had tried to engage in their normal playful banter, but Lucy’s head was in a fog.  There were times she wanted to wake up and have every memory she ever had come flooding back, and there were other times she never wanted to remember at all. 

She had just taken Mr. Adams’ breakfast order, when he blurted out an apology for having interrupted her time with her boyfriend last night.  Lucy stared back at him in utter confusion and then remembered the scene he must’ve walked in on.

“Mr. Adams, Garcia isn’t my boyfriend.  He’s Maria’s son.”

“Oh.  My apologies.  I could’ve sworn the wife said you two were dating.”

Lucy just shook her head politely and walked away.  _Dating?  Did they give off those vibes to the guests?_   She couldn’t even be sure Garcia even wanted to date her.  Yet, he had asked her to dinner… 

Once breakfast had been completed, and the majority of the dining area had been cleaned, she made her way back to the kitchen to help Garcia.  When he heard the door open, he looked up and smiled at her.  _She really, really liked his smile.  Who was she kidding, she liked it anytime he looked at her._  

“You survived,” he laughed.

“Barely.  Only thanks to you,” she answered as she met his eyes.

“I don’t want to be a downer, but Sunday brunch is even worse.  I think we’re going to need another pair of hands.”

Lucy leaned over the counter and put her head down as she moaned in protest.  Then she felt Garcia’s hand on the small of her back.  She stood up and turned to face him.  He was so close to her, and she wanted to reach out and kiss him so badly…

Then the kitchen door opened and Jiya walked on in.  Instantaneously, he backed up from her and busied himself with something on the counter.  Jiya looked at Lucy with a raised eyebrow, as the tension in the room was palpable. 

“You’re here early,” he said to Jiya as she took off her coat.

“Figured Lucy would need the help.”

“Boy, do I!” Lucy laughed.

Garcia laughed with her.

“Rough first official day?”

“You could say that.”

“Well, I’m here now, so take a break.  You’ve been at this all night.”

A break was just what the doctor ordered.

“Oh no!”

“What is it?” he asked.

“I forgot I was supposed to see Dr. Mason and get my stitches out today,” Lucy answered with a panicked look on her face.

“I’ll call him.  Don’t worry, Lucy,” he assured her.

A few minutes later, Garcia reappeared in the kitchen having just hung up the phone with Dr. Mason.

“Lucy, how do you feel about me cutting them out?” he asked nervously, as he tugged at his collar.

“What?”

“I’ve got basic medical training and I’ve taken out my own stitches before.  Should be a piece of cake.”

“I-I…”

“If you’re afraid, I understand.”

“I trust you.”

The words flew out of her mouth before she even knew she said them.  True as they were, she barely knew him.  The last thing she ever wanted to do was spook him. 

“I’ll be right back.”

“You’re seriously going to let him do this?” Jiya asked.

Lucy nodded her head in response. 

“You’re braver than I thought!”

Garcia reappeared in the kitchen a minute later, with a pair of small scissors in his hand.  He put one of his hands on the small of her back and led her down the hall to the bathroom.  Every time he touched her, she got butterflies in her stomach.  When they got to the bathroom, he turned on the light and stepped inside.  It was only a small powder room with a sink and toilet, so they were almost on top of each other.  She didn’t mind that one bit.  He tilted her head ever so gently, as his other hand cupped her chin to hold her in place.  She felt the blush as it spread across her cheeks.  His hand threaded into her hair and found the sutures easily.  It was over so fast, yet she wanted to stay right where she was.  He had been so gentle with her, so soft, so loving.  _How could such a catch still be single?_  

Sunday brunch went slightly smoother, as Jiya came in to work a little overtime.  Lucy remained a danger in the kitchen, so he had taken on the cooking duties exclusively.  She was still eager to help with some of the meal prep, and he found she picked up most things rather quickly. 

By Sunday night, both of them were exhausted, and as soon as Jiya’s shift officially started for the night, they both collapsed into their respective beds with a thud.  As tired as he was, he would’ve rather been working because at least he was with Lucy.  The minute he got back to his room, he missed her.  There were times they could be together and not utter a single word, yet the silence wasn’t uncomfortable at all.  There was really never a point in denying it, he was falling in love with her and probably had been since they first met.  Now, he suffered through the withdrawal of not being with her and craved his next fix like a junkie.  He tried to read, but his mind just drifted to Lucy.  He tried to sleep, but she only filled his dreams.  He dreaded every day he walked into work, as he waited for word they had found Lucy’s true identity.  Perhaps, she’d find out and decide to stay anyway.  It was a flimsy shred of hope, but it was all he had at the moment and he clung to it like it was the last life raft on the Titanic. 

Monday morning’s breakfast was less complicated than the weekend, and by the time he got down to the kitchen, Lucy had most of the prep work already done.  She smiled at him with a self-satisfied smirk, proud she had accomplished so much on her own already.  The breakfast service was in full swing, when he heard the bell on the front door.  Lucy was in the dining area, so he quickly threw off his apron and rushed down the hall to the front desk.  It turned out to be the visiting nurse for his mom.  He asked if she could give him one minute and he went into the dining room to tell Lucy where he’d be.  She had almost finished cleaning up anyway, so she waved him to go on upstairs. 

He led the nurse upstairs to his mom’s room and stayed with them as she performed her initial evaluation of Maria.  As the nurse was busy with his mom, he noticed Lucy loitering out in the hallway.  He got up and walked over to the door, afraid something was wrong. 

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I was just checking on Maria.”

He heard the nurse and his mother as they bickered, and he ducked back into the room with Lucy in tow. 

“I don’t need anyone to help me bathe,” his mother snarled.

“Mrs. Flynn, you do.  Your mobility is severely limited until you are able to weight-bear on that ankle.  That’s why I need to know who resides in the household.  Obviously, it’s an inn, so I’m guessing you have less family to help than the normal patient,” the nurse explained.

“Well, my son is staying here and Lucy is here.”

“I can bathe her.  It’s not a problem,” Lucy insisted.

“And are you family?” the nurse questioned with an annoyed look on her face.

“Actually, I am.  I’m her daughter-in-law.  Is that _family_ enough for you?” Lucy snapped back.

He coughed as soon as the words excited her mouth.  _Did she just tell them she was my wife?_   He quickly hid his surprised expression and as the nurse turned to look at Maria, he saw Lucy wink at his mom.

“My apologies.  I didn’t know you were family.”

“Is that okay then, if Lucy helps me?” Maria asked.

“That’s fine.  Well, we will be back out on Wednesday to do another check.  I know you have to keep the ankle elevated a lot, but try not to lay in bed for extended periods.  It puts you at increased risk for not only bedsores, but also deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.  If you experience any of the symptoms on this paper, you need to call us immediately,” the nurse instructed, as she handed Maria a stack of papers.

“I’ll walk you out,” Lucy offered, as she extended her arm towards the door.

The nurse turned to walk out and Maria rolled her eyes.  He couldn’t help but laugh.  His mother was stubborn at times, and he would’ve bathed her if he _absolutely_ had to, but Lucy was so sharp to pick up on the situation and just went for it.  Just one more thing that amazed him about her. 

The rest of the week flew by, and he and Lucy were attached at the hip when he wasn’t at the station.  It was Saturday, and Jiya had just come in to start her shift.  He had wanted to see if Lucy might want to catch a movie or something, but she disappeared upstairs in a flash.  He didn’t want to bother her, so he found a few chores to finish up while he waited for her to come back downstairs.  It was taking forever and he was running out of things to do.  There was really only one thing he hadn’t done yet, but that would take him out of the house for a few minutes.  He weighed his options, then finally decided to bite the bullet and go outside to get more firewood.  He carried more than he probably should have, and as he neared the door he heard Jiya as she squealed and Lucy giggled in response.  _Finally.  What was she doing upstairs for so long?_   

He kicked the door with his foot, as his hands were currently full, and Jiya opened the door a few seconds later. 

“Easy there, Paul Bunyan,” Jiya joked.

He shifted the firewood in his arms so he could see better, and as he peered over one of the logs, his heart stopped.  He dropped a bunch of the logs out of his arms, and stood in place as they fell to the floor.  In front of him stood Lucy, clad in a low-cut black dress, her hair pulled back in an elegant up-do.  He was afraid his jaw fell to the floor along with the wood.  He quickly bent down, grabbed the wood and rushed out of the kitchen to the living room.  He deposited the wood next to the fireplace, and stared out the window as he attempted to catch his breath.  _She literally took his breath away._  

Once he could breathe again, his mind raced with a thousand thoughts all at once.  _Could he stand to be in her presence when he wasn’t able to hide how turned on he was?_ If he stayed in the living room, it would make it more obvious.  Plus, he needed to know why she was so dressed up. 

He strolled back into the kitchen as nonchalantly as he possibly could.

“You okay?” Lucy asked with concern.

“I’m fine.  You look-you look really nice.  Going out tonight?”

“Lucy has a date,” Jiya interjected.

He turned to her for confirmation and the blush that spread across her face told him everything.  _She was going on a date, but not with him._   His heart was crushed and a heaviness pressed down upon his chest. 

“It’s not really.  It’s just dinner.”

Jiya chuckled.  “You don’t wear a dress like _that_ to just dinner, Luce.”

He really didn’t want to know who she was going out with, yet his curiosity was getting the better of him.  He wanted to stick around, but the pain had become unbearable.

“Have a good time,” he said as he walked out of the kitchen.

He ran up the stairs as fast as he could, and took advantage of his extra-long legs, as he skipped over a few steps at a time.  When he got to his room, he heard a car door shut out front and peeked out the window.  He knew that truck.  _Wyatt Logan?  Seriously?_

__

_What the hell just happened?  Garcia looked like he saw a ghost and he had never been that abrupt with her before._   He may have tried to hide it, but Lucy witnessed the look on his face when he saw her in that dress.  She wanted him to look at her like that over and over again.  His eyes were so soft, yet full of want and desire.  And here, she was going to dinner with another man.  She had said yes to Wyatt at the time, but as Saturday crept closer, she really didn’t want to go.  She would’ve been happy to just spend the time with Garcia at the inn.  She was attracted to Wyatt, but she didn’t know much about him.  Garcia on the other hand, she was _very_ attracted to, and she knew _so_ much about him in such a short amount of time.  _What was she doing?_  

Wyatt opened the front door of the inn, and Jiya called to Lucy in the kitchen.  He also had a bug-eyed look on his face once he saw her in that dress.  Wyatt handed her a bouquet of flowers, with his mouth still slightly agape.  Lucy asked if Jiya would put them in some water for her, grabbed her wrap and headed out the door.

“You look amazing, Lucy,” Wyatt stated as he opened the truck door for her.

“Thanks,” she replied, as she looked back at the inn as they drove away.

They wound up at a familiar spot: The Sea Hag.  _Is there really no other place to eat in this town?_ The restaurant had a different vibe at night, filled with couples and families and a few locals at the bar.  They were seated at a table in the back and were pretty much the only patrons in the entire section.  Wyatt ordered a beer and Lucy ordered a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.  _Well, that’s one thing we definitely don’t have in common_. 

The meal came and Lucy had convinced herself to give him a chance, and after doing so, had to admit she was having a genuinely good time.  That was, until a blonde haired woman walked up to their table with a look on her face that she was about to murder someone.  Lucy recognized her as the blonde bartender who had been here when she met the reporter. 

“You’re unbelievable!” the blonde screamed as she leaned in, so she was face to face with Wyatt. 

“Jess, Jess-”

“Don’t Jess me!”

Lucy sat there confused as to what was going on.  Whatever it was, she wanted no parts of it.  She knew this dinner was a mistake. 

“You have got to be kidding me that you’re running around with amnesia girl!”

“Lucy, my name is Lucy.”

“Oh, screw you bitch!  You show up in this town and think you’re so special since every single guy here wants to take you out.  I’ve got news for you, you’re just a shiny, new toy, nothing special.  Plus, he’s already taken.  Go mess up someone else’s life!” Jess yelled as she picked up Lucy’s wine glass and dumped the contents of it down her dress.

“Jesus, Jess!  What the hell?  We were on a break!” Wyatt groaned.

He got up and grabbed Jess by the wrist, as he pulled her away from their table.  Lucy sat there in utter shock, as wine dripped down her new black dress and skin.  Finally, she grabbed her napkin and tried to soak up some of the moisture.  She watched from the table as Wyatt and Jess continued to argue.  _The hell with this._   She picked up her purse, pulled the wrap back over her shoulders and walked out the front door.  Had she known she would’ve been walking tonight, she would’ve dressed warmer and wore more sensible footwear.  Thankfully, it wasn’t that far to the inn. 

She had only gotten about two blocks, when Wyatt pulled up in his truck. 

“Lucy.  Lucy, I’m so sorry.  Please get in and I’ll take you back to the inn.”

_Home.  Yes, take me home._   Reluctantly, and mostly because she was cold, she accepted his offer.  As they drove, her mind wandered to Garcia.  _Oh, God, please don’t let him be around when she gets there_.  It was bad enough that Jiya would have to witness it; there was no need for him to as well. 

They pulled into the parking lot of the inn and the silence that had occupied the entire ride was finally broken.

“I’m sorry Lucy.  Jess and I-we’ve been on again, off again for a while.  We’re not _currently_ involved, but Jess gets jealous if I go out with other women.  I should’ve known better.  Again, I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay.  We’ll-we’ll just forget tonight ever happened, okay?”

Wyatt nodded and Lucy opened the truck door and exited.  She hurried up the steps to the front door and entered the inn as quietly as she could.  It obviously wasn’t quiet enough, because Jiya peeked her head out from the kitchen, just as Lucy was about to ascend the stairs. 

“What are you doing back so…”

Lucy pulled her dress outward to highlight the red wine stains.

“Oh my… What happened?”

“Wyatt’s ex, Jess happened.”

“Seriously?  Unbelievable.  I’m sorry, Lucy.”

“It’s for the best.  I didn’t get that spark from him, you know?” Lucy asked as she tilted her head.

Jiya smiled in response.  “You mean, like you do from a certain tall and handsome police chief?”

She blushed, unable to keep her feelings hidden.  “I’ll see you in the morning.”

 


	7. The Perfect Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn learns out the truth about Lucy and Wyatt’s date. Flynn and Lucy take a trip to a farm to purchase some Halloween supplies for the inn. Lucy and Flynn go on their first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long to update this chapter, but my muse has been on hiatus since I'm still salty AF about that abomination I (unfortunately) witnessed (am still praying for selective amnesia over) in December. Then my muse decided to come up with a ton of other Garcy fic ideas, so....   
> Hopefully, this whets your appetite while I get my muse back into regular rhythm.

Her eyes flashed open and she rolled over and peered at the clock on the bedside table.  _What time is it?  Crap, she’s late._   She didn’t like to be late.  Not that she knew that for sure, but she just felt it.  She threw on clothes as fast as she could, and hurried downstairs to the kitchen.  She expected to see him already there, hard at work as usual.  But the kitchen was dark and devoid of activity.  _Where is he?  There is no way she can handle Sunday brunch on her own, or with just Jiya’s help.  Speaking of Jiya, where is she?_  

She walked down the hall and into the living room.  The fire had almost gone out completely, and the room bristled with a chilled air.  She stoked the fire and as she stood up, she noticed Jiya curled up in an armchair, asleep with an engineering book on her lap.  She shook her awake gently.

“Jiya, where’s Garcia?”

“Um-Garcia?”

Jiya rubbed her eyes and gazed back at her with a foggy look. 

“He’s not in the kitchen, I overslept and you fell asleep.  None of the prep work is done for brunch,” Lucy explained in a panic.

“Garcia went home last night.  He said since I was here and it was slow, he wanted to get some things done at his house.  I don’t think he ever came back.”

“Great,” Lucy muttered.

She strolled back into the kitchen and angrily began her prep work.  Jiya joined her and the two of them rushed to get things done as fast as possible.

About ten minutes later, they heard a car door slam outside and then the kitchen door opened.

“Sorry, I overslept,” he mumbled, as the two women paid him no mind and continued to work.

“Well, then, get to it!” Jiya yelled playfully.

They managed to make it through the brunch rush, and Lucy noticed Garcia seemed to be avoiding her.  All she wanted was the chance to explain, the chance to tell him how much of a mistake it had been.  Once the brunch clean-up was finished, Jiya and Lucy sat at the kitchen table, both with mugs of coffee in their hands and exhausted expressions on their faces.

“Rufus finally asked me out last night,” Jiya giggled.

“About damn time.  Seriously, why are some men so clueless?”

Jiya laughed and smiled back.

“He’s taking me on the haunted hayride.  I can’t wait!”

“Ooh, haunted hayride?  I would _love_ for someone to take _me_ ,” Lucy stated loudly so that Garcia would hear her.

“I’m sure Wyatt will take you, if you ask him,” he replied tersely from the other side of the kitchen. 

“Yeah, _thanks,_ but no thanks.”

Jiya snickered and took another sip of her coffee.  Slowly, Garcia turned to look at her.  It was the first time he had all day.  The grim frown he had worn previously became a sly smile.  He seemed intrigued about her answer, as he joined them at the table.

“Uh, I take it your date didn’t go very well then?”

“The understatement of the year,” Lucy replied, as she got up to refill her coffee mug.

Jiya leaned over and whispered into his ear, “I think she was hoping _someone_ else would ask her.”  She winked at him and nudged his elbow.  He sat there silently, as Lucy returned to the table with her new cup of coffee. 

“I’m sorry to hear you had a bad date, Lucy.”

“Thanks.  I should’ve listened to my gut, which told me it was a bad idea.”

She didn’t know how much more obvious she could be, but she wasn’t getting the reaction from him that she wanted.  She _hoped_ that he would ask her out, especially now that he knew she didn’t want to go out with Wyatt again.  But he just sat there, staring down at his coffee cup.  Lucy was frustrated.  There had been no leads at all on her identity, she hadn’t had many recent memory flashes and Garcia, the one thing she looked forward to every day, would barely look at her anymore.  She had just started to really like her life here, and she was not giving that up right now.  It was all she had.  So, she decided she would take matters into her own hands. 

“Say, Garcia…”

He looked up at her with almost sad, puppy-dog eyes.

“Can I cash in on my raincheck and maybe have you take me to the haunted hayride?”

The look of surprise, followed by a tenderly soft smile, made her tingle in all the right ways.  _If only she could have him look at her like that every day._   She also knew, that if he kept looking at her like that, she’d wind up in his bed pretty fast.

“You-you want me to take you?” he asked with surprise.

_Oh god, he doesn’t want to take me.  What the hell did you just do?_  

“It’s fine.  You don’t have-”

“I would love to.”

What a difference twenty-four hours made.  Yesterday, he had been so down about Lucy going out with Wyatt that he spent the night back at his own house, in his darkroom, developing the pictures he had taken of her during their boat trip.  And now, she had just asked him out.  She wanted to go out with _him._   He just prayed he wouldn’t screw this up.  If it was up to him, he would never have taken her on a haunted hayride for their first date.  _Wait, is this a date?_   But, this is what Lucy wanted to do, and he can’t deny her anything. 

They decided they would go a few days later, since they had to wait for Jiya to be available to work a little overtime.  He carried his Mom downstairs, so that Jiya could help her if she needed to go to the bathroom.  Plus, Maria Flynn might’ve just walked on her broken ankle downstairs herself, if she had to look at the four walls of her bedroom any longer.  He decided to take Lucy earlier in the day, as they had to purchase the pumpkins and bales of hay for the inn’s Halloween decorations.  He figured he’d just make an entire outing out of their trip, plus it would also dissuade his mother from worrying her Halloween decorations wouldn’t look nice.  Lucy could pick out the pumpkins, and if any of them were misshapen or too large or too small, it wouldn’t be his fault.  Not that he wanted Lucy to take any blame, but he doubted his mother would give her any grief.  He, on the other hand, would get a lecture about why he bought so many large ones, etc. 

After he made sure his mom and Jiya were all set, he walked upstairs and knocked on Lucy’s door.  She opened the door and flashed him her trademark smile.  _Her smile will never get old.  He could be on his deathbed at age ninety, with full blown dementia and he would still know that smile._   She was dressed in skinny jeans and a long, burgundy sweater with brown, tall riding boots.  He had on a pair of jeans, a black turtleneck and his leather jacket.  _She is so beautiful._ Sometimes, he thought if he stared at her any longer, he might have just been turned to stone, like Medusa had to men who were unlucky enough to gaze upon her.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

“Now?  They do haunted hayrides in the daytime?”

He laughed, as she gestured for him to come in. 

“No.  But I thought we could go to the pumpkin patch and get the pumpkins and stuff for the inn, maybe grab a bite to eat and _then_ go on the hayride.  The hayrides are on the same farm as the pumpkin patch.”

“Oh, okay, sure.  Let me just grab my jacket.”

She grabbed her jacket that hung by the door.

“You may want to take your heavier jacket.  It gets cold at night,” he suggested.

“I’ll be alright.”

Lucy shut the door and followed him downstairs to the kitchen.  Maria and Jiya were sitting there, having a cup of tea.

“I texted you the list, Lucy.  I know I can count on you to get everything we need.  Plus, I have a sinking suspicion that you’re a good pumpkin picker,” Maria teased with a wink.

Flynn rolled his eyes, grabbed his camera and ushered Lucy out the door.  He heard Jiya and his mother giggle like schoolgirls as soon as he shut it.

When they got to the farm, he parked his SUV as close as possible, hoping to spare his _and_ Lucy’s backs with the amount of pumpkins and hay bales his mother had ordered him to acquire.  The sun shone brightly and a light breeze danced on the autumn air.  It was a nice day, at least weather wise, and he hoped to continue that trend into this evening.  He was more nervous than he ever imagined and they hadn’t even gone on the hayride yet.  The thought of her being that close to him made his heart flutter with anticipation. 

Lucy practically pranced down the aisles and aisles of pumpkins in pursuit of the perfect one.  He followed dutifully behind her with the wheelbarrow, which was most certainly not made for men who were his height.  At one point, she had gotten so far ahead of him, he stopped and took out his camera.  She had no idea he snapped multiple photos of her cavorting through the crops.  He quickly put his camera away, picked the wheelbarrow back up, and made his way down the row of pumpkins towards Lucy’s waving arm.  The farm wasn’t very crowded, but it wasn’t empty either.  There was a family of four that scoured the patch to their left, and another couple to their right.  Lucy pointed to a huge pumpkin in the middle of the row and he obliged her by hoisting it into the wheelbarrow. 

“Really, Lucy?”

“What?  Do you know how many pumpkin pies we can make out of this one?  Or, we could put him at the bottom of the front stairs with some hay and a scarecrow or witch or…”

He tuned her out for a few seconds, not even realizing he had done so.  He snapped back into reality when he heard the couple to his right bickering over the size of their pumpkin as well.  The two men glanced over at each other and nodded in solidarity.  This entire process was very domestic and familiar, yet it was supposed to be their first date.  The other man looked annoyed to have been dragged to a pumpkin patch with his wife or girlfriend, but Flynn cherished this.  It was time for just him and Lucy to be together: alone.  He had no walls with her.  He had walls with _everyone_.  Not even his mother was immune from that.  But Lucy?  Lucy was captivating and mesmerizing, yet relaxing and easy to be around.  She had this innate ability to make people feel comfortable with her.  He, of course, was the exact opposite. 

After they had wandered what felt like half of Oregon, he lugged the wheelbarrow full of pumpkins up to the checkout.  Lucy grabbed a couple hay bales and added them to their order.  Thankfully, they were able to use the wheelbarrow to get it back to the car.  They unloaded everything, took the wheelbarrow back, and were about to leave when Lucy suddenly stopped.  He turned to see what had caught her attention. 

“You have to take my picture with this thing!” she shrieked, as she ran towards the gargantuan sized pumpkin under the farm sign. 

It was literally the largest pumpkin he had ever seen, but it was also weirdly shaped in that the top of it appeared to be much smaller than the bottom.  _Much, much smaller than normal._   She climbed on top of it and put her arms in the air as she laughed like a hyena.  _Adorable and a little nuts; what a combination._   He grabbed his camera, which was luckily still around his neck, and began to snap pictures of her at a rapid pace.  She even asked the same couple they had seen in the patch earlier to take one of the two of them.  He almost lost it when she leaned in and pressed her cheek against his, which left no space between them at all.  Her soft, pearly-satin skin brushed against his slight stubble like a soothing balm.  It was over way too quick.  As soon as the picture had been taken, she popped off the pumpkin like a spunky sprite bounding off to her next mischievous adventure.  _She’d be the death of him for sure, but he didn’t mind at all._

__

The second she leapt off the pumpkin and took a few steps, her head was struck with an awful stabbing pain.  She grabbed her head with her right hand, as she doubled over.  Her vision blurred and her head felt like it was in a fog.  She heard the faint sound of Garcia’s voice in the background, but couldn’t make out what he was saying.  _What the hell is happening?_   She felt like she was a spectator in her own body, unable to send the correct signals from her brain to her limbs.  She sensed, more than felt, Garcia’s hand on her back.  And then it happened….

Flashes of images moved through her mind, as if her brain was a book that was being flipped through.  None of it made any sense.  She tried hard to concentrate on the mental pictures, but when she did so, her head hurt even worse. 

The next thing she knew, her legs were lifted off the ground and she was in Garcia’s arms.  Lucy attempted to turn her head to look at him, but was too weak to do so.  When he put her in the front seat of the car, she grabbed his hand and held it.  He squatted down so that he was at her eye level and just stared at her.  She closed her eyes and the flashes slowed down to a crawl.  Lucy could clearly see herself, when she was younger, in a pumpkin patch with a younger girl with brown hair.  They played and romped up and down the rows as they giggled. 

“Lucy!”

She looked up slightly and met his eyes.

“I’m-I’m okay.  It was a memory flash.”

“Thank god.  I was scared to death, Lucy.”

Her headache had subsided slightly, and she realized at that moment she still held his hand.  He caressed it with a feather-soft touch, as he swirled small circles with his thumb.  The soft expression he usually reserved for her, was replaced with the pallid specter of shock.  There was no doubt at this point that Garcia had feelings for her.  _The look he gave was one of genuine fear and worry.  You don’t do that unless you care._  

She pulled her hand back and then patted his to reassure him again.

“I’m okay.  Truly, Garcia, I am.”

He nodded, but appeared to still be actively deciding whether he believed her or not.  She slid her legs into the car and fastened her seat belt.

“Where to now?”

He stared at her as if she had just spoken a language that was foreign to the entirety of man.  He slowly inched his way back to a standing position and shuffled his feet towards the driver side, never breaking eye contact with her. 

“Maybe, I should just take you home.”

“What?  Why?  Oh, no.  You are _not_ getting out of the hayride that easy mister!”

He choked he laughed so hard.

“I wasn’t trying to get out of anything.  Just concerned about your health.”

_See, told you he cares._  

“I’m hungry.  Probably why my head hurts.  Let’s get something to eat,” she suggested.

He just shook his head, as he kept his eyes on the road.

“What?”

“You are something else, Lucy.  I have never met anyone quite like you.”

She blushed and smiled, then turned to gaze at him in the driver’s seat. 

“Uh…”

She wasn’t _quite_ sure how to take that comment, which he must have intuited a few seconds later.

“I-I meant that as a complement, in case that wasn’t clear.”

_No, it wasn’t initially clear, so I appreciate the clarification._  

“Thanks.  I could say the same about you.”

While technically true, she couldn’t be sure about that statement, given that the only people she remembered are the ones she recently met here. 

“I really can’t take that as a compliment, considering you remember like ten people total,” he joked.

“I _mean_ it!  You’re more interesting than those ten people combined.  Well, maybe the exception being your mother.”

The smile he shot back at her made her weak in the knees.  She felt the sudden urge to make him pull over and climb him like a tree.  With no frame of reference to work with here, Lucy wasn’t sure if she just had an overactive libido or if it was just the effect he had on her.  Maybe, it was a bit of both. 

They drove down the road for a few miles, until he pulled over at a small restaurant.  It didn’t look like much, some greasy spoon that only the locals frequented. 

“I hope this is okay.  Kay’s is sort of an institution around here.  Everything on the menu comes from local farms and vendors.  Never had a bad meal here ever.”

“Sounds good,” she answered, as she opened the car door.

The place badly needed a pain job on the outside, but the inside was quaint and cozy.  Small tables with the typical red and white tablecloths dotted the dining room, with a few booths to the side. There was also a counter with stools that harkened back to a simpler time.  Lucy and Flynn were seated at a table in the corner.  Most of the stools at the counter were occupied by a motley crew of locals, which made the two of them stick out even more.  She suddenly felt like someone had shone a spotlight on them.  Yet, just like he always managed to do, Garcia put her at ease quickly.  Their normal playful banter returned, and she was thankful to be able to spend time with him outside the confines of the inn.  It served to reinforce her knowledge that her feelings for him weren’t just due to proximity.  They spent a lot of time together at the inn.  She spent more time with him than with anyone really.  And, Lucy was fine with that.  She may not have her memories intact, but she _knew_ how she felt.  She was tired of waiting, tired of putting _this_ life on hold in the fear of some old one returning to haunt her.  She truly had begun to envision a life here.  She could see herself being happy here.  Happy, with _him._    But, she needed to be sure about how he felt.  She knew he cared, but caring isn’t what she was searching for.  She wanted to fall in love.  And, she felt like she was beginning to fall for Garcia, more and more each day.  Since he seemed reticent to make any sort of move on her, it would be up to her.  Thus, she had enacted her carefully crafted plan into action by asking him to take her on this hayride. 

“So…,” Lucy began as she plucked a fry off of his plate, “Have you been to this specific hayride before?”

He looked down at his plate, like he was unsure she just did what she did, then smiled.

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Is it _okay_ that we’re going?” she asked hesitantly.

“Absolutely.  Just never had anyone to go with before, that’s all.”

“How is that even remotely possible?”

_Oh God, did she just say that out loud?_

His cheeks turned a crimson color in response, and he looked down at his hands before he met her eyes once again.

“I don’t know.  I guess no one ever piqued my interest before-before you.”

This, in turn, made her blush.  _How does he always make me feel special?_  

They finished their food, then headed back to the inn and unloaded the pumpkins and hay.  Once they had accomplished that, they jumped back in the car and drove back to the farm for the hayride. 

Flynn climbed into the wagon first, then turned and extended his hand for Lucy.  She took it willingly, happy to have his help in climbing up, but also happy to have an excuse to touch him.  She took a seat amongst the hay bales and he sat down next to her, but not close enough for her liking.  She inched closer and closer until their shoulders brushed.  He never attempted to move away and the wide smile he bore encouraged her boldness. 

The first bump the wagon went over caused Lucy to bounce into the air a little, which provided her with the perfect opportunity to thread her arm under his elbow and pull herself taut against him.  He beamed back at her and interlaced their fingers together.  _That’s more like it_.  Ghouls, ghosts, zombies and vampires swirled the wagon, and Lucy squeezed his hand hard a couple times that she got spooked. 

About halfway through the hayride, Lucy began to shiver.  It was chilly and she had only brought that light little jacket.  The jacket she _knew_ she’d be cold in, but tactically wore anyway.  The jacket was all part of her master plan to make a move on him.  If she was cold, he would hopefully put his arm around her and pull her closer.  Well, at least that’s what she was counting on. 

“Cold?” he mused.

“A little.”

He chuckled at her, and wrapped his arm around her, as she placed her head on his shoulder.  He smelled _really_ good, a combination of a sultry musk with soft amber.  She did _not_ remember him every smelling like _that_ at the inn. 

The hayride was coming to an end, when suddenly a zombie grabbed her shoulder.  Startled, Lucy screamed and jumped into Flynn’s lap.  Their lips were inches from each other and she slid her hands around his neck.  He definitely seemed surprised that she didn’t immediately pull away.  She gazed into his emerald green eyes and smiled with a hint of mischief written on her face.  She was going to close the gap, but the next thing she knew his lips were on hers.  The kiss was soft and slow and he lingered slightly before he pulled back.  He searched her face as if he sought permission for another, or penance for the one he had just subjected her to.  It was then that she felt the eyes of some of the other guests on the hayride, some rolling their eyes and others aghast at the public display of affection.  She leaned in for another quick peck and then removed herself from his lap and wrapped his arm back around her as she found her seat.  _Plenty of time for that later, when they can be alone._  

 


	8. Carving Out A Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Flynn end their date on a high note. Flynn finds Lucy and his mother in a compromising position. A new guest at the inn takes a liking to Lucy, which causes Flynn to fight off his inner green monster. Halloween preparations continue. Flynn and Lucy come to an understanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments feed my ever hungry muse, so thanks to all of you who have left them!

He kissed her.  She kissed him back.  He had finally gotten up the nerve, and whoa, was it worth it.  If a kiss could kill, Lucy was lethal.  He replayed it over and over again on their way home.  He tried to steal glances at her when he thought she wasn’t looking, but every single time his eyes wandered to her, she met them with a blushing smile.  What he had done to have this woman want him, he didn’t know.  He definitely didn’t deserve her.  All he wanted to do was kiss her again, and never stop. 

He pulled into the driveway of the inn and parked the car.  The second he had turned off the engine, he felt Lucy’s eyes on him.  He spun his head to peek at her, but as soon as he did, Lucy’s lips were on him.  Her hands flung up around his neck and into his hair, which caused a small moan to escape his lips.  He grabbed her waist with both hands and pulled her closer as he deepened their kiss.  Once they were both breathless, he pulled back, just enough to gaze into her earthy eyes. 

“God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” Lucy replied, as she pressed another soft, lingering kiss to his lips. 

Now it was his turn to blush.  He felt like a teenager again, who dared to kiss the popular girl in his mom’s car.  But, it was the only place they could be alone.  Unless, he went to her room.  Even that presented its own problems, seeing that Lucy’s neighbors were guests at his mother’s business.  The only other option was his own house, but that would be much too presumptuous for a first date. 

“Loocy,” he breathed, as he trailed kisses from her lips down her neck.

“Yes?”

“I really hope you allow me to take you out again, because I don’t want to ever stop kissing you.”

She pulled back suddenly and he freaked out internally.  _He said too much, too fast_.  Then she brought her hands to his cheeks and stared directly into his eyes.

“Who’s stopping you?” she joked.

He chuckled, as he brought his hands up to cover hers, and then pulled them down and intertwined their fingers.

“So, does that mean you’ll go out with me again?”

She gave a sly smile, leaned in and kissed him.  Unlike the previous kisses, this one was hard, aggressive and demanding, yet full of fiery passion. 

“Is that a yes?” he gasped, as he tried to catch his breath.

“I didn’t know I was being vague.  Let me be crystal clear,” she declared, as she locked lips with him once again. 

This kiss was deep, her tongue darting around his own, stimulating every nerve cell he had.  He pulled her closer to him (as close as he could within the confines of a vehicle), and they continued to kiss until they were both breathless.  He could do this for the rest of his life and never get tired of it.  He was sure of that. 

“Can I walk you to your door?” he asked as he tried his best to keep a straight face.

“I’d expect nothing less than a gentleman such as yourself,” she laughed.

He didn’t want the night to end, but they both had to work in the morning.  He opened his door and hurried around to the passenger side to open the door for Lucy.  They entered the inn through the kitchen, and basically found Jiya and Maria where they had left them earlier in the day.  He most definitely noticed the shared look between the two of them when they came in. 

“Did you guys have _fun_?” Jiya teased.

“ _Yes,_ ” Lucy sassed back.

“Alright, Jiya.  Guess it’s nighty night for me now that mom and dad are home,” Maria joked.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Flynn answered, as he helped Maria into his arms.

He carried his mom back upstairs.  Lucy followed and made sure Maria was comfortable and settled for the night.  They said their respective goodnights and then Flynn shut the door.  He walked Lucy down the hall to her room and she turned to face him as they reached the threshold. 

“I had a lot of fun tonight.  Thank you,” she said as she slid her arms up his chest and wrapped them around his neck.

“I did too,” he answered, as he brushed her lips with his.

They kissed again and he lifted her slightly off of her feet as the kiss deepened.  After they parted, he gently set her back down on the ground. 

“Goodnight, Lucy.”

“Goodnight, Garcia.”

_Goodnight, my love._

_  
_

When Lucy awoke the next morning, she felt hopeful about her future for the first time since her accident.  She really, _really_ liked him.  She may even be falling in love with him.  Unlike Wyatt, she knew Garcia.  Not only had she spent a great deal of time getting to know him, but she also had the added benefit of being an impartial observer.  All anyone needed to do was watch his interactions with his mother, any of the townspeople, or fellow police officers to know he _was_ a good man; a good, caring, honest, intelligent and _very_ handsome man.  A man who thought _she_ was beautiful.  And if he can kiss like that, what other skills might he possess?  _You’re getting ahead of yourself now.  Take it slow, don’t screw this up._  

She showered and went downstairs to begin her breakfast prep.  Weekday breakfasts were much easier and Lucy felt confident she could handle it all herself.  She wanted to see Garcia today and hoped he would stop by at lunchtime.  It hadn’t even been a full day since she last saw him, but her lips ached for his and her body longed to be held in the warmth of his embrace.  _Okay, so she had it bad for him._ She just prayed she wasn’t _too_ aggressive last night.  Her biggest fear was that she’d spook him, he’d retreat back into his shell and this would end before it ever really started.  Things would get awkward around here _real_ fast after that.  She wouldn’t be able to stay here, yet she had nowhere else to go. 

She had just about finished the breakfast prep, when the inn’s house phone rang.  She picked up the extension in the kitchen as quickly as possible, as she assumed it was a guest with an issue.  It turned out, Maria was on the phone and she needed Lucy’s help getting dressed.  Lucy hung up the phone and hurried upstairs to Maria’s room. 

“I’m sorry to bother you, Lucy.  I’m having trouble getting my other pant leg over this stupid boot.  I swear if they tell me I still have to use these crutches and this boot any longer I’m going to strangle the doctor myself!” Maria yelled in frustration.

They had trouble getting the pant leg over the boot even with the two of them.  She finally had Maria sit down on the bed, as she climbed behind her and sat down with her legs straddled.  They pulled together on the pants, and had them half way up Maria’s leg, when the door opened and Garcia walked in.  Lucy wished she had been the one with a camera at that moment.  The look on his face was priceless, almost as if his brain could not process what it just witnessed. 

“What the…?”

“Maria, I think we need to find a long skirt instead,” Lucy suggested.

Maria groaned in annoyance, but pointed Lucy to her closet to retrieve a skirt.  Garcia had walked out to allow them privacy.  She helped Maria change and then opened the door so Maria could crutch out into the hallway.  Garcia was waiting in the hall, and helped his mother down the stairs and into the car.  Lucy went back to the kitchen.  He barely even spoke to her.  _Did she do something wrong?_   _She was too aggressive last night.  That had to be it._

Suddenly, the kitchen door opened again.  Garcia stepped back in and stood there by the door, with both hands behind his back.  Lucy raised an eyebrow and stared back at him with anticipation. 

“These are for you,” he stated, as he handed her a bouquet of gorgeous, orange, tiger lilies. 

Lucy swept the flowers up into her hands and brought them to her nose.  She inhaled the fragrant perfume that wafted off of them. 

“Thank you,” she replied, as her cheeks turned a shade that rivaled the lilies.

He closed the space between them tentatively, as Lucy glanced up into his eyes.  The soft, shy smile he expressed melted her heart.  He leaned down and she went up on her tiptoes, as their lips met.  His arms flung around her in an instant.  She crushed her flowers against his chest, (but didn’t care) as their tongues twisted together in perfect unison.  _If he keeps kissing her like this, she’s never going to be able to take it slow._  

He pulled back slowly and peered into her eyes.

“I’ll see you later, right?”

“Of course,” she answered, as she kissed him again. 

A car horn blasted in the background, which caused them both to laugh mid-kiss. 

“You better go.  Don’t keep your mother waiting young man!”

He smiled and nodded his head, as he walked out the door.

__

Thankfully, the doctors decided Maria could put weight on her ankle, although she now had a walking boot to deal with.  He was happy his mother was on the mend, but that also meant his presence wouldn’t be needed at the inn.  If his presence was no longer needed, he was going to have to great creative to come up with ideas to see Lucy.  He _had_ to see her.  He still didn’t believe a woman like that could ever want him.  But for some reason, she did.  And he was _not_ going to screw that up by moving too fast.  After all, they had all the time in the world (or so he hoped).  No new leads as to her identity had been uncovered on his end, and no one had come forward to claim they knew her, even after the reporter did a story.  _How could no one know her or miss her?  He’d been gone for two hours and he missed her._   Not that he “claimed” her.  He wanted her to be his girlfriend, but he did not possess her.  Even if they were together, she would never “belong” to him.  Belong with him, sure. 

When he got back to the inn, Lucy wasn’t in the kitchen, which disappointed him.  He did notice she had put the flowers he bought her in a vase.  They were displayed for all to see on the kitchen table.  He peered out into the dining room, but Lucy wasn’t there either.  Then he heard her laughter. 

He strolled towards the front desk, where he saw she was checking in a new guest.  She didn’t even look up at him.  She kept a completely professional demeanor, as she handed the man his room key.  He heard his mother approach from behind him, and he stopped to allow her to get by.  Maria went directly up to the man checking in and greeted him warmly.  _He must be a repeat guest, since his mother usually reserved that sort of greeting for people she knew fairly well._   The man was a few inches shorter than him, with sandy, blond hair and blue eyes.  He was probably closer to Lucy’s age than his own, and he was accompanied by a small boy, that Flynn assumed was the man’s son.  His mother introduced Lucy to the man, (he didn’t care to know what this guy’s name was) and then Lucy bent down and waved at the little boy.  He was the spitting image of his father (hence, Flynn’s assumption that they were related).  The boy waved back and seemed to take to Lucy right away.  He couldn’t blame the kid.  Lucy was like a tornado.  She sucked you up and into her orbit, and you either swirled around dizzily or were spit back out with force.  He just wanted to remain in her orbit and not get spit out like Wyatt did. 

He wanted to talk to Lucy, but she was busy with the new guests and he had to get to work.  He waved goodbye in the general direction of Lucy and his mother, and went back out through the kitchen. 

When he got to work, he immediately checked the updated missing person reports.  He dreaded it.  He would literally hold his breath as he checked them, just waiting for the day he’d find Lucy and his heart would break.  Nothing.  He had received no matches from the Oregon or Washington State Police, and he had heard nothing back from the FBI.  He breathed a sigh of relief that there was no news.  One more day his heart would remain intact. 

__

Maria Flynn was on a mission.  She stomped around the kitchen in her new walking boot, happier than a lark to be among the ambulatory again. 

“What are you doing?” Lucy asked.

“Making my famous chili.  And _you_ , are going to learn and help.”

“Are you sure you want me to be privy to your secret family recipe?”

Maria chuckled and turned to face Lucy.  “You’re going to need a secret weapon.  If there is one thing that my son _cannot_ resist, it’s my chili.  Someone needs to make sure he stays in line when I’m no longer around.”

Lucy felt honored.  Jiya had told her that Maria wouldn’t share that recipe with anyone.  And she was teaching _her_ how to make it. 

“It used to be this was the only way I got to see my son.  Now, I can’t get rid of him.  I wonder why that is,” Maria teased.

Lucy blushed profusely, and turned almost the shade of a red rose.  She found words would not emanate from her mouth, so she just stood there speechless.  _It didn’t hurt that his mother liked her, right?_  

Maria must’ve sensed she was uncomfortable with the current topic of conversation, so she switched it to something a little more neutral.

“Lucy, I meant to tell you that the little mini pumpkins you put on all the tables and in the rooms are adorable.  I can’t believe I never thought of that before.  I better watch out or you’ll be running this place without me soon.”

“I doubt it.  You’ve never truly witnessed my lack of skills in the kitchen.  The guests would starve,” she joked.

“Garcia can cook.  Maybe it would finally get him to do a job where he didn’t have to carry a gun.  A mother can always hope.”

The sad part was, Lucy could envision that scenario as well.  They worked well together and she loved spending time with him.  They could run the inn together.  They could start a family.  She could be happy here, with him.  She just _knew_ it.  She just needed to not get ahead of herself here.  She needed to take things slow, but even with that foresight, she found she wanted to forge ahead at full steam.  She did almost die in that accident.  _Why wait?  Why play it safe when it can end in a flash?_  

Once they finished and the chili simmered on the stove, Lucy and Maria went into the dining room and pulled out a few pumpkins to carve.  There were a few families staying there, and the kids always loved to carve and paint their own pumpkins.  Lucy jumped right in, and within minutes she had a captive audience of children surrounding her at the table.  The younger ones painted faces on the mini pumpkins and a couple of the older children drew and traced patterns for the adults to carve. 

The little blond haired boy Lucy had checked in earlier, named Nolan, was particularly needy when it came to her attention.  He was precocious to say the least, which took Lucy aback for a minute.  His father was always close by.  Lucy appreciated the assistance when he would step in and help his son himself.  Nolan turned out to be quite the little artist, and after he had finished his painted pumpkin, he moved on to his jack-o’-lantern.  His father, Patrick, kept apologizing to Lucy for his son’s apparent attachment to her.  She played it off as just part of her job.

“It’s not though.  You can tell that you genuinely like and are good with kids,” he had said with a smile.

_Oh, no.  She knew that look all too well._   _She was not going to flirt with the guests._  

“Thank you.”

Of course, this was when Garcia decided to show up, and she pretended that she hadn’t noticed the expression on his face.  He eyed Patrick with a judgmental glare.  _Was he maybe a teeny bit jealous?_   She flashed a smile at him and he returned the favor.  _Boy, did he look hot in that uniform._   _Focus, Lucy.  There are children here_.  The children also got excited upon seeing Flynn (although for an entirely different reason than Lucy).  He was still armed so he didn’t want to get too close to the kids.  He motioned to his gun and Lucy picked up on his non-verbal communication.  She gathered the kids to her, and they reluctantly went, but only after Lucy promised he’d be back in a minute. 

Garcia took the hint and left the room, only to return a few minutes later, sans weapon.  He sat down at the table next to Lucy.  The kids were fascinated by his handcuffs, his badge and the uniform in general.  He was more than happy to oblige them, and Lucy got a glimpse of what he might be like as a father.  He was patient and kind, but most importantly, he was happy.  Nolan assisted him in selecting a pirate stencil for his pumpkin.  Lucy chuckled, as she watched him struggle with the more delicate intricacies of the pattern with his large hands.  Finally, she intervened on his behalf, before he completely butchered the entire thing.  Maria snapped multiple pictures of the pumpkin fiasco, as well as a couple more of the two of them with their finished products.  Lucy’s pumpkin had a witch on a broomstick carved into the front, which she had executed to meticulous perfection.  Garcia’s pirate, well..., she had no comment. 

__

Later that night after dinner, Flynn led Lucy out back to the fire pit.  They sat around the warmth of the blaze, as she curled into him.  He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her flush up against him, as he leaned in and softly brushed her lips. 

“Can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?”

“Mmm,” she purred back, as she kissed his neck.

“Lucy.”

“Yes?”

“I just want you to know that I don’t-that I’m not interested in seeing anyone but you.  I hope you feel the same way, but I understand if you don’t want that.”

“Garcia?”

He gazed down at her, as she took his face into her hands.

“I want that,” she advised, as she kissed him deeply.

He pulled her into his lap, as they kissed each other until they were breathless.  She was the most desirable woman he had ever had the pleasure of meeting.  He wanted her desperately, and the ache in his chest only grew with each sensuous kiss she planted on his skin.  When their lips parted, Lucy laid her head on his shoulder.  They snuggled together by the fire in comfortable silence for a while.

“I could _so_ get used to this,” she whispered. 

“So could I,” he replied, as he pressed a kiss to her hair.

_So could I._

 


	9. Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy, Jiya and Rufus go shopping for Halloween costumes. The Halloween party presents some obstacles and surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went a little nuts with this chapter. It's about 5,000 words. Hope you enjoy!

The next week was a whirlwind.  She didn’t know if she had ever been this happy before, but she decided to concentrate on the present, the here and now.  And right now, she was without a doubt, falling in love with Garcia Flynn.  She knew it sounded ridiculous, but it was how she felt.  She didn’t care how long it had been. 

They spent all their free time together.  Sometimes they just sat in comfortable silence, as they watched the waves crash upon the shore, and snuggled by the fire.  And the kissing.  The kissing was magical.  He wasn’t kidding when he said he didn’t want to ever stop kissing her.  Not that she minded one iota.  In fact, she was more frustrated that those kisses hadn’t made their way to other parts of her body by this point. 

Still, it was nice to take it a little bit slow.  She felt spoiled with all the little sweet, romantic things he did for her.  Not the normal gentlemanly things, like holding a door, or pulling out a chair, (although he did all those things as well).  Every morning, she found a purple, long-stem rose wedged in her door handle.  She had no clue how he accomplished this without her knowledge, but she had a sneaking suspicion a rose fairy name Jiya had something to do with it. 

After the third day in a row, she asked him why he had chosen purple.  He explained that a purple rose meant enchantment, and since he was certainly enchanted by her, he felt it apropos. 

The fourth day, the rose was accompanied by a handwritten note that simply stated, “I miss you.”   The fifth day, the note said, “Good morning, beautiful.”  Who was she kidding?  She wasn’t falling in love with this man, she was already drowning in the deep end of the love pool.  Halloween was at the end of the week, and if she had to enact another plan to kick this relationship into the direction she wanted it to go, well…

Jiya had already bugged her to go get a costume for the party a thousand times, so she decided she would pick out a costume that there would be no way this man would be able to ignore or resist.  Ever since Jiya had explained to her what “The Borg” was, she had adopted their motto of “resistance is futile” when it came to seducing Garcia.

She hadn’t planned on Rufus joining them on this excursion, though.  They were both hilarious, as they bickered about whether to go with Star Wars or Star Trek characters.  Lucy found it adorably cute.  The two of them, however, started to get annoyed with each other, as they had hit an impasse.  Jiya was adamant that she wanted to be Lt. Uhura.  Rufus had protested, until he saw her in the costume.  He changed his mind _real_ fast, but he still refused to be a character from Star Trek.  He was stuck on Star Wars, until he passed a costume that stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Oh, this is definitely it.”

He pulled the costume from the rack and held it up in the air.  Lucy laughed the second she turned and saw it.

“Don’t laugh, Lucy.  This is gonna be awesome!”

Jiya raised her eyebrow at him, and then just shook her head.  She knew there was no way to talk him out of it now.  Rufus strolled over to the counter to purchase his costume, while Lucy continued to browse the racks.  She wanted something sexy, but not exactly slutty.  Finally, she came across one she liked, but she wasn’t quite sure she could pull it off.  She passed by it three times before she decided to try it on.

“Jiya?  Can you come here for a minute?”

Jiya left Rufus at the entrance to the fitting room and peeked her head in.

“Lucy?”

“Down here.  I’m in the last stall.”

Jiya walked down the aisle to the last stall in the fitting room.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m-I’m not sure about this costume,” Lucy answered hesitantly.

“Open the door.  I can’t give you my honest opinion if I don’t see you in it.”

Lucy opened the door slowly, and poked her head out. 

“I need you to be completely honest with me, okay?”

“Yes!  Now, open the damn door.”

She flung the door open fully and Jiya took a long look.  Her expression gave nothing away, and Lucy was terrified at what she would say.

“If you goal is to have every single man, except Rufus of course, stare at you the entire night, I’d say you’ve got yourself a costume,” Jiya joked.

“I’m not interested in _every_ man, just one in particular.  I’m beginning to think he either thinks I’m some sort of porcelain doll that will break if he touches me, or he’s just not that into me after all,” Lucy complained.

“Lucy, that man is crazy in love with you.  Everyone can see it.  Perhaps, his definition of slow is different than yours,” Jiya teased as she elbowed her. 

“I said slow, not two-toed sloth speed!”

“Well, if _that_ doesn’t kick him into gear, I don’t know what to tell you.”

“If this doesn’t work, I just may have to get my hands on those handcuffs of his.  I’ll chain him to the damn bed if I have to!”

Jiya and Lucy both roared with laughter.  Then they heard Rufus at the fitting room door, as he complained that they were taking too long.  Lucy went back into the stall, removed the costume and put her clothes back on.  A few minutes later, the ladies emerged from the fitting room and Lucy made a beeline for the register.  Rufus tried to sneak a peek at the costume, but Lucy shielded it against her body well.  She paid for the costume and the three of them exited the store.

“You’re not going to let me see it, Lucy?” Rufus questioned.

“You can see it on Halloween like everyone else.”

Apparently, Halloween was a big deal around here, and not just for the children.  Both Rufus and Jiya had anticipated this party at The Sea Hag for weeks.  Lucy really didn’t want to have another run in with Jessica or Emma, but Jiya assured her there would be lots of people there and the chances were good they’d avoid them.  Maria had given Lucy and Jiya the night off, and told them to have fun.  She planned to do just that.  Her plan was to have Garcia pick her up, reveal the costume, and well, if they never made it to the party, it wouldn’t have bothered her in the slightest.

She checked herself in the mirror once more and then waited.  And waited.  _Where the hell is he at?  He’s never late like this._   Then her phone buzzed (well, the phone he bought for her). 

_Garcia:  Stuck at work.  Meet you there._

_Lucy:  U r the boss.  How u stuck there?_

_Garcia: Big accident highway.  May B awhile._

_Great_.  She had this entire evening all planned out in her head, and now she had to play it by ear.  Her costume was not exactly conducive to walking that far in the cold, so she texted Jiya to see if they could pick her up.  Jiya and Rufus had already arrived at the party, but she texted back that Rufus would come and get her. 

He pulled up into the driveway of the inn not ten minutes later.  Lucy bolted out the kitchen door, as she kept her coat tightly wrapped.  She opened the passenger door to the car, and hopped in as fast as she could.  She turned to greet Rufus and screamed.

“What?  Oh, the mask,” he replied as he took it off his head.

Lucy smacked his arm.

“What the hell was that for?”

“You scared the hell out of me.  Seriously?  Jiya allowed you to go out of the house with that on?” Lucy teased.

Rufus released his hands from the steering wheel, and then crossed them across his chest.

“Wakanda Forever!”

Lucy rolled her eyes in response, but then chuckled.

“I wouldn’t talk.  I know what you’ve got going on under that coat,” Rufus jested.

Lucy was suddenly _extremely_ self-conscious and pulled her coat even tighter.

“Did Jiya tell you?”

“No.”

“Then how do you-”

“The tiara is a dead giveaway, Lucy.”

_Duh!_   She had forgotten about that.

“Just-just drive Rufus!”

“God, you sound like Jiya.  You two spend _way_ too much time together.”

They arrived at The Sea Hag a few minutes later.  Lucy was shocked when she got inside.  It was a complete one-eighty from the last time she had been in there.  The entire ocean motif had been replaced by everything Halloween, and Lucy had to admit, Emma sure knew how to throw a party.  The music was loud and the drinks flowed smoothly.  Rufus and Lucy met up with Jiya, who had snagged a table towards the back of the bar. 

“I took the liberty of ordering you a Cosmo,” Jiya stated, as she pushed the drink across the table.

“You’re the best!” Lucy responded, as she took a large gulp from the glass.

She still had her coat on, still too self-conscious to take it off.  If Garcia were here, she wouldn’t have cared.  Sure, she felt safe with him.  He was her boyfriend, after all.  But she was also _very_ aware that said boyfriend stood six-foot-four inches off the ground, and would probably arrest anyone who ever tried to mess with her.  And, her costume…  It just might invite some drunken idiot to mess with her. 

Lucy was already on her second drink by this point.  She had started to feel the effects of the alcohol a little, and felt her temperature rise.  The coat she still had on, was not helping matters either.

“Hey Luce!  I didn’t know Deep Throat wore a tiara when he met Woodward and Bernstein.”

Lucy stared blankly back at her.  _What the hell is she talking about?_

Jiya tugged on her own costume and Lucy glanced down at herself.  She laughed, as she finally had gotten her joke.  Slowly, she unbuttoned her coat, slipped it off of her bare shoulders, and placed it on the chair behind her.  Rufus literally spit beer out of his mouth and then choked on it.  Jiya was more than happy to give him a hearty slap to his back in retaliation.

“Damn! Girl, you look good,” Rufus choked out.

Jiya gave him the dirtiest of dirty looks and then turned back to Lucy.

“You do look good.  Wonder Woman totally suits you.”

“I feel naked,” Lucy replied.

Rufus choked on his beer again.  Jiya shifted away from him in a feigned protest.  Rufus knew he had just royally fucked up big time.  He crossed his arms across his chest again.

“Wakanda Forever?”

Lucy laughed uncontrollably.  She couldn’t help herself.  Besides Garcia, Rufus could always get her to laugh.  Always. 

“I hope you enjoy Wakanda forever, because that’s the only fantasy land you’ll be visiting for a while!” Jiya yelled.

Rufus tried to pull her closer to him and she pulled away.

“Babe, I’m sorry.”

Lucy felt incredibly awkward right now.  So, she excused herself from the table and offered to get drink refills.  When she got to the bar, she glanced at the clock.  Almost two hours had gone by, and she was still boyfriendless.  The bartender handed her the drinks, and Lucy turned to take them back to the table, when she heard her name being called.  She knew the voice, but was unable to place it.  She scanned the crowd, but didn’t see anyone she recognized.  Then she felt the hand on the small of her back, and she whirled around faster than a roulette wheel.

“Lucy, you look-you look-wow!” Wyatt beamed.

She had to do a double take.  She hadn’t recognized him in that ridiculous, long, curly, black wig. 

“Thanks.”

She tried to walk back to the table, but Wyatt followed her through the throng of people in the bar.  This is the last thing she needed right now.  She just kept waiting for the other shoe (a.k.a. Jessica) to drop.  He yammered on about how fantastic she looked in the costume, and how sorry he was about the wine being dumped on her. 

When she got back to the table, Rufus practically hung on Jiya, as she continued to ignore him and dole out his punishment.  They gazed up at Lucy, and then burst into laughter as soon as Wyatt came into view.

“Nice poodle on your head man,” Rufus snickered.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Wyatt replied.

“Are you wearing an Ikea rug?” Jiya asked.

“I don’t know.  Jess made it.”

Speak of the devil.  Jessica appeared at Wyatt’s side from out of nowhere.  Lucy did a double take, as she hadn’t even heard her approach.  She froze.  She had no idea what to do, so she just kept imbibing. 

“You’ve got the wrong costume on,” Jiya commented, as she pointed a finger at Jessica.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re too bitchy to be the Mother of Dragons.  You should’ve went with the Red Witch or the Mad Queen.  Would’ve been a better fit.”

Jessica was enraged at her comment.  Lucy’s eyes bulged, as she stared at Jiya.  Jiya had always been so nice to everyone in Lucy’s presence.  She had never seen her like this.  Lucy was sure there had to be some sort of history between the two that she was unaware of.  Jessica huffed and mumbled something under her breath, as Wyatt shifted his weight. 

“Well, at least we’ve got costumes that everyone knows.  Who are you supposed to be again?  Some random space alien?”

Rufus literally had to hold Jiya back from getting up from the table.  Lucy finished her drink in another huge gulp.

“Lucy,” Jessica called, “You know who we are, right?”

Lucy just shook her head.  She had no clue. 

“Jon and Dany from Game of Thrones?”

Lucy shook her head again.

“Sorry, I never watched it.  At least, I don’t remember if I did,” Lucy explained.

“What!” Rufus screeched.

Jiya smacked him hard on the forearm.

“Oh, why am I asking amnesia girl?  She doesn’t remember anything,” Jessica muttered, as she grabbed Wyatt by the arm and led him back onto the dance floor.

Rufus stood up from the table, grabbed the empty bottles and strolled over to the bar without having uttered a single word. 

“What’s the deal with you two?” Lucy asked.

“We _used_ to be friends.  I can’t be friends with someone who threw wine on my best friend, now can I?  Plus, I’m just so over her and Wyatt and their yo-yoing.”

“I’m your best friend?”

“Of course you are!” Jiya yelled, as she leaned over and hugged Lucy.

She almost fell out of the chair when she did so, but Lucy grabbed her.  Rufus strolled back over with another beer for himself, two Cosmo’s for the ladies and two shots of something.

“I’m designated driver, so this is my last beer, but you ladies enjoy.”

They downed the shots, their smiles quickly turning to sour puckers, and then chased it with their drinks.  This process was repeated a couple of times, and Lucy and Jiya were well on their way to being sloppy drunk.

_Lucy is gonna kill him._   He had promised he would go with her to the Halloween party.  The last thing he _ever_ wanted to do, was disappoint Lucy, but duty called.  He had been out on US 101 for over two hours, as he dealt with a five car pile-up.  One of those was a tractor-trailer that had spilled its payload all across the highway.  Halloween was always a busy night, and the station only had a few men to spare, which meant he needed to pitch in.  He had always allowed his officers with children, like Denise, to have the night off, so he couldn’t even send her.  So, he and Officer Baumgardner cordoned off the on and exit ramps, and froze their asses off while the State Police conducted their accident investigation.  He should’ve been with Lucy, not serving as a glorified arctic bodyguard.  He wasn’t that upset about missing the party.  Emma had tried for years to get him to come, but he always worked.  He only agreed to go because Lucy wanted to.  Whatever she wanted, he would do.  He found he had a _very_ hard time saying no to her in general.

Everything had been going so well, he would really hate it if this derailed his relationship with Lucy.  In fact, things had been going _so_ well, he was terrified he’d screw it up somehow; thus, his reluctance to take things in a physical direction.  It had been more than awhile since he had been with a woman.  _What if he didn’t last long?  What if he couldn’t satisfy her?_   His head filled him with doubt, but his heart and his body weren’t listening.  He kept wondering what Lucy’s costume was.  She refused to tell him exactly what she planned to wear, but she did say he would “ _really like_ it.”  He’d have to be blind, deaf and dumb to not understand the intimation of that statement.  Why did there have to be an accident on the highway tonight of all nights? 

Finally, three and a half grueling hours later, the State Police completed their investigation.  The tow truck had removed the wreckage, and they reopened the road.  His costume was in the car.  It wasn’t much, but he hadn’t planned to go all out for a party he really didn’t want to go to.  If it was up to him, he’d just hang out with Lucy either at the inn or his house. 

He drove back to the station, filled out his report and texted Lucy.  He wanted to make sure she was still at the party.  He saw no need to change into his costume if she wasn’t.  He waited for a response, but nothing came.  That wasn’t like Lucy at all.  _She’s either really, really pissed, or she wasn’t paying attention to her phone._   He decided to get changed and go to the party anyway.

When he arrived at the party, he parked his car and walked towards the door.  Partygoers both entered and exited, which allowed him to hope the party was still in full swing.  His costume wasn’t embarrassing or ridiculous, but it was hot and heavy.  He hadn’t counted on that part.  He pushed the door opened and entered.  The place was packed.  One advantage of being tall was that he could easily scan the room.  He searched the bar first, when he felt a tug on his arm. 

He spun on his heels and turned, as he assumed it was Lucy who had grabbed him.  But it wasn’t.

“Garcia!  You came.  I’m so glad.  Love the costume.  You here to rescue me?” Emma asked, as she closed the space between them.

She grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him close to her.

“Or are you here to put out the fire between my legs?”

Shocked, he coughed and backed away from her.

“Whoa, Emma, I-I’m here with someone.”

“With who?” she demanded.

“Lucy.”

Emma rolled her eyes, as she huffed audibly. 

“Really?  You too?  Is there anyone she hasn’t slept with yet?”

“What are you talking about?”

“She fucked Wyatt.  At least, that’s what I heard.”

_He knew it wasn’t true.  Well, he was pretty sure it wasn’t._   _So, why is it bothering him?_   He shook his anger back down into his chest.

“You’re drunk.  Good night, Emma,” he stated, as he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

He searched the tables and finally spotted Rufus at a table in the back.  He weaved through the throngs of people and took a seat across from him. 

“Hey.”

“Hey.  What took you so long?” 

“Big accident on the 101.”

“Oh, damn.”

“Where are the girls?”

Rufus shook his head. 

“Where are they?”

Rufus tilted his head towards the dancefloor.

“Making fools of themselves out there.”

Flynn scanned the dancefloor, but couldn’t find them.

“Where?  I don’t seem them.”

Rufus pointed towards the middle of the dancefloor.  Flynn followed to where he pointed and his breath hitched.  Lucy-Lucy was dressed in a Wonder Woman costume that left little to the imagination.  _Oh, he liked it alright._   Jiya and Lucy danced close together, almost grinding on each other, as they laughed and laughed.  He turned back to Rufus with a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry, Chief.  They’re too much to handle on my own,” Rufus said with both his hands raised.

Flynn chuckled with amusement.  He was glad Lucy seemed to be having a good time.  He felt awful about being late.  He was also _very_ aware of the looks she was getting from some of the men here.  He wasn’t mad because he thought she was his, he was mad because they treated her like an object.  He balled his fist under the table and then unclenched it.  He just needed to release the tension for a moment. 

After the song had ended, Lucy and Jiya made their way back to the table.  Her face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw him.  His heart raced in response.  _He will never understand why she wants him, but he’s grateful for it nonetheless._  

As he pushed his chair back to get up, Lucy slunk into his lap and sealed her lips to his before he uttered a word.  Her arms wrapped around his neck, as his automatically wrapped around her waist.  She practically jammed her tongue into his mouth, which surprised him.  Lucy had never been this outwardly aggressive with him before.  He tasted the remnants of the sweet orange and sour cranberry on her tongue, as she twisted it around his.  She was as intoxicating as the liquor, a spellbound siren sent to seduce his mind, body and soul. 

“Oh, come on guys!” Rufus protested.

Lucy pulled back, and then promptly lost her balance, and almost fell off of him before he helped right her. 

“Jealous?” Flynn teased.

Rufus choked, and averted his eyes.  He squeezed them shut, as he shook his head.

“No!  No, not jealous.  Nope.”

Rufus refused to look back at him, or anything really.  Jiya glared at Rufus, as he covered his eyes with his hand.  _He had obviously missed something here_. 

He didn’t have the opportunity to ask any more questions, as Lucy yanked him in for another kiss. 

“I missed you,” she whispered into his ear, as she ran her fingers through his hair. 

“Me too.  You look bOOtiful,” he answered, as he gave her another peck on the cheek and shifted her in his lap.

She laughed at his stupid Halloween pun.  He loved her laugh.  He had never been one for public displays of affection before.  But, Lucy-Lucy was _so damn sexy_ in that costume, he couldn’t quite help himself.  It was the most he had ever seen of her, every curve accented to perfection.  The lust filled longing in her eyes drove him mad with desire.  _He wanted her so badly right now, it had become almost unbearable._  

The music changed, and Jiya and Lucy glanced at each other and squealed in glee.  Lucy rocked back and forth on his lap in an attempt to stand up, which did not help the situation in his pants one bit.  As she stood up, she wobbled in those amazing, high-heeled red boots, with the golden trim at the top.  He grabbed her by the waist and she leaned into him, which caused him to stand to remain upright himself. 

She pulled at his jacket, “Dance with me.”

“Uh, um.”

Jiya held out her hand to Rufus, who still had his eyes closed.  She whacked his arm and he finally opened his eyes.

“Let’s go,” Jiya ordered.

Rufus gazed back at her, like a puppy that had just been scolded.

“If you don’t dance with me, you sure as hell aren’t doing anything else with me tonight.”

He instantly took her hand and she led him onto the dance floor.

“Dance with me,” Lucy repeated as she tugged on his forearm.

“Dance?  You can barely stand.  I think it’s time to call it a night.”

“Caaalll it a?”

“You’ve had a little too much to drink.  You’re slurring and swaying.”

“I’m not drrrrunnnnkk!”

He burst into laughter.  He couldn’t help it.  She was one hundred percent wasted.  And one hundred percent adorable. 

“Come here,” he said, as he jolted her towards him. 

Lucy squealed, as he wrapped her tightly into his arms.

“We can dance at home where there’s less prying eyes,” he whispered into her ear.

The smirk she shone back at him was downright devilish.  A shudder shimmied down his spine.  He was entranced by her. 

“Taaake meeee hoooome,” she yelled.

His brain told him this was a good idea, seeing how drunk she currently was.  His brain also conjured up a thousand scenarios about what might happen once they got home.  He grabbed her coat from the back of the chair, draped it on his arm, and placed his free hand on the small of her back.  He guided her towards the front door, but stopped once he reached the bar.  She glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow.  He paid their bar tab in its entirety (he felt guilty for being late). 

As they turned to exit, he noticed Emma and Jessica stood by the door and glared at Lucy.  He understood why they both didn’t like her, but it wasn’t like he had ever given Emma any indication he was interested in being anything more than friends. 

He paid them no mind and escorted Lucy out the door.  She shivered immediately, as a gust of wind blew harshly the minute they stepped outside.  He placed her coat around her and pulled her into his side.  Lucy swerved and stumbled, as they moved towards the car.  _She’s worse off than he thought she was_. 

He finally managed to her get into the car.  She didn’t say much on the ride home.  He had become more concerned about her health than anything at this point.  _Exactly how much had she had to drink?_  

Once they had made it back to the inn, he carried her up the stairs to her room.  He couldn’t take the chance of her falling down the stairs.  He set her down once he got to the door, and she leaned against the wall as he inserted the key.  He followed her inside and shut the door behind him.  Her lips were on his in an instant and she pulled him closer to her.

“I wanna dans now.”

“Lucy.”

“Dans with meeee!”

He obliged her request, took her into his arms and swayed to non-existent music.  She dropped her head to his chest and hummed a contented sigh.  He loved having her in his arms.  Every time he had to leave her, it physically pained him.  He had never wanted to push spending the night with her, but tonight, tonight he wasn’t going anywhere.  It wasn’t because he expected anything, he was just concerned because she was beyond wasted right now. 

He hadn’t noticed at first, but she had backed him up with her swaying motion.  His legs hit the edge of the bed, and he sat instinctually as she climbed into his lap.  She kissed him with such fervor that he almost fell backwards.  She was so damn beautiful.  It was harder and harder to resist her.  She unbuttoned the fireman’s jacket, slid it down and off his shoulder, and grabbed him by the red suspenders.  She kissed his jaw and then moved down to his neck. 

“I want, whoa!” she yelled, as she lost her balance and fell face forward onto the bed.

“Lucy!  Lucy, are you alright?”

She hadn’t answered him and panic welled up in his chest.  He flipped her over and she just laughed. 

“Oh, thank god.”

She gripped his suspenders again and pulled him on top of her.  He had never been more conflicted about something.  He wanted her more than anything, but not like this.  She was half out of it and on the verge of passing out.  She tried to get his pants off, and that’s when he stopped her and sat up on the bed.

“No, Lucy.  Not like this.  Maybe if it wasn’t our first time, it would be different.  I just can’t.”

She gave him her best puppy dog eyes and pouted.  He had to look away.  The eyes were one thing, but the pouting?  He could _not_ deal with the pouting. 

“Please?”

“I would never forgive myself.  Plus, what kind of police chief would I be if I took advantage of a drunk woman?”

She sat up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him slowly and softly. 

“What if I don’t want you to be the Chief of Police?”

“What?  What do you want me to be?” he asked with a chuckle.

She released her hands from around his neck and slid them down his chest, as she leaned in and whispered, “Chief of Pleasure Town.”

He just had a heart attack.  If he hadn’t, he was about to.  _Oh, he would like nothing more than to be that right now._ As his eyes met her wandering gaze, he noticed they had started to gloss over.  He had been right to deny her. 

Instead, he got up, pulled down the blankets, and helped her get in the bed.  The tiara gave him a little bit of trouble.  He knew he hurt her at one point, when she smacked his hand and then ripped it out herself.  He was about to go and sleep on the couch, when she grabbed his hand.

“Please stay?”

She gave him that pout again.  _Damn it!_   He would cave, he knew it.  _Resistance was futile.  Futile._

 

 

 


	10. Thankful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A memory flash proves to be a problem for Lucy. Flynn and Lucy hit a bump in the road in their relationship. Lucy gets to experience a Flynn family Thanksgiving, as well as a Flynn family tradition.

As aurora’s first rays shone through the window, Lucy slowly opened her eyes.  She felt awful, and was without a doubt hungover.  Her head throbbed, and her throat felt like someone had taken a blowtorch to it.  _She drank way too much last night!_   In fact, she only remembered bits and pieces of the night.  Thankfully, Maria had given her the day off, so if she wanted to lay in bed all day, she could. 

Her eyes attempted to focus, as she tried to shake the cobwebs from her brain.  Sure, she felt crappy, but at the same time, she also felt warm and cozy.  Garcia’s arm was draped over her hip, their fingers intertwined.  Lucy groaned, although she hadn’t meant to do it audibly.  _She finally got him into her bed and she was too drunk to remember?  You have got to be kidding me!_  

Garcia stirred in response to her groan, as sleep still laid claim over his body.  She turned her head to look at him, as carefully as she could.  The smile that graced his face was pure, unadulterated happiness.  She wanted to engrain that image into her mind for all eternity.  He seemed so peaceful, as he slept.  She’d roll over and kiss him right now, if she had the energy to move.

Suddenly, he spoke her name, squeezed her hand and pulled her tightly to him.  Lucy twisted her head to see him.  Still dead asleep.  He must be mid-dream or something.  If her head hadn’t felt like a jackhammer was hard at work right now, she might have appreciated the fact he was dreaming of her.  He called her name again and let out a contented sigh.  _Guess it’s a nice dream._  

An extra sharp pain stabbed her head suddenly.  She knew what this meant by now, another memory flash.  She wouldn’t mind the agony of them, if she could actually clearly remember anyone’s face.  The memories were jumbled with no context whatsoever.  If it was going to be like this for the rest of her life, she’d rather not remember at all. 

This memory flash turned out to be _very_ disconcerting.  In the flash, her head rested on a man’s bare chest, her arm draped across it loosely.  She tilted her head up at the man and whispered those three little words.  _NO!_  

The memory flash ended as fast as it came on.  She shot up in bed and grasped her head.  The room spun on its axis and she wobbled slightly.  She placed her hand on the sheets and steadied herself.  Garcia shot up not a second later.  His hands gently gripped her shoulders.

“Lucy, what is it?  What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t even look at him.  Terrified he’d be able to read her expression, she placed her head in her lap and groaned.  He rubbed her back lightly, as he repeated his question.

“My head feels like it was run over by a truck.  Twice.”

He chuckled.

“You drank a _little_ too much last night.  I’d be really impressed if you didn’t.”

Lucy flopped back down onto the bed.  Her head landed softly on her pillow.  Garcia laid back down as well, and turned on his side to look at her.

“Why?”

“Why what?” he asked in an amused tone.

“Why did you let me drink that much?”

“Lucy, you were three sheets to the wind when I got there.  I am sorry I was late.”

“Oh, yeah.  Oh, god, now I remember.  Jiya and Jessica almost threw down, Jiya and Rufus fought, and I felt more than just a little uncomfortable.”

“I gathered something was up with Jiya and Rufus.  He told me he was sorry because he _clearly_ couldn’t handle the both of you,” he laughed.

“Handle!”

“He was joking, Lucy.”

“Oh.  I don’t remember anything else, though.  Like, especially, how I got here?”

“I carried you.  I didn’t want you to fall.  You weren’t exactly having the easiest of times staying vertical.”

“Ugh,” she answered, as she placed the pillow over her face.

He removed the pillow from her face, as he leant over and kissed her softly.  Instinct took over.  She kissed him back and parted her lips, as his tongue slid into her mouth.  They kissed deeply for what felt like an eternity, before she pulled back in need of air. 

“Stay here.  I’ll be right back,” he said, as he kissed her nose and got out of bed.

He disappeared out the door, and Lucy shrunk back into the warmth of the comforter.  She felt incredibly guilty at the moment.  Guilty, because it felt like she had cheated on Garcia, even if it was just in her head.  The memory flash had been so vivid, so lifelike.  _Was it a warning from her brain?_   _Was her subconscious trying to stop her from making a huge mistake?  Was she already committed to this other man, or was he a lover from her past?_   Her head pounded harder, as the possibilities swirled around her already cluttered mind.  Kissing Garcia felt right, though. 

She slapped the pillow over her head again.  It was just all too much right now.  The memory had only helped sow more seeds of doubt.  She wished these stupid flashes would come with time and date stamps.  Then, maybe she could make sense of it all. 

She must have dozed off again, because she startled when her door opened.  She glanced towards the door, and saw Garcia carrying a tray into the room. 

“You think you can handle some toast?”

Lucy nodded.  He brought the tray over to the bed.  She sat up, as he placed it in front of her.  Besides the toast, there was a glass of orange juice and one of water, along with his signature morning rose.  She smiled widely when she picked it up with her delicate fingers.  He leaned in closer as he whispered in her ear, “Enchantment.  If I’m under your spell, I don’t ever want it to end.”

He planted kisses along her neck, as she leaned into him.  _What the hell is wrong with her? This man is perfect.  It’s like she’s deliberately trying to sabotage their relationship._   She decided to set aside the stupid memory flash, and revel in the here and now.  _She loved him.  She wasn’t sure of much else, but she was sure of that._  

At first he thought it was just her hangover.  But, when Lucy was still a “little off” the next day as well, he started to panic.  _Did he screw up?  Did she no longer want to be with him?_   She claimed she was just tired.  He pretended he bought the excuse, but he knew something was wrong.  He just knew it.

The next day, he had to work.  When he came to the inn at lunchtime to see if Lucy wanted to grab a bite to eat, he saw how busy they were.  So, he kissed her chastely (there were guests around after all), and went back to work.

When he finished work, he went back to the inn.  His mom was in the kitchen, but he hadn’t seen Lucy.

“Garcia, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing mom.  Where’s Lucy?”

“Don’t nothing me.  Something’s going on between you two.  What did you do?”

“I don’t know.  I keep asking and she tells me nothing.”

“You need to learn to use your words.  She’s upstairs.  Talk to her.”

“Alright, mom.  I’ll see you later.”

He climbed the flight of stairs and knocked on Lucy’s door.  She smiled when she opened the door and invited him inside.  They sat on the couch, and watched a little TV, before he asked her what was up with her.

“What do you mean?”

“I feel like you’re pulling away from me and I don’t know what I did.”

“I told you, you haven’t done anything.  I’ve just felt a little sluggish since the party.  Maybe I’m coming down with something.”

“Okay,” he stated, as he looked down at his hands.

Lucy took his hands in hers, and asked him to look at her.  When he tilted his head up, she kissed him passionately.  For a split second, the old Lucy was back, full of light and life.  She pulled away faster than she usually did and seemed out of breath.  She was paler than usual too. 

“You do seem a little pale today.”

He brushed a wayward piece of hair behind her ear.

“I hope I don’t give it to you, if I am sick.”

_She didn’t want to get him sick.  Did that explain the distance?_  

“I don’t get sick, Lucy.  Well, very rarely.”

She placed her head on his shoulder and snuggled close to him.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  I feel like crap.”

“What can I do to make it better?  You want some tea?”

Lucy nodded her head.

“Anything else?”

She playful tapped her finger to her lips.  He obliged her request with a long, languid kiss.  It was slightly sloppy, but Lucy still let out a contented sigh when they parted. 

He wandered down to the kitchen to get her some tea.  By the time he made it back up to her room, she had changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top.  Beads of sweat trickled down her brow.

“Lucy, you’re sweating now.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m sick.”

“Doctor’s office tomorrow.  No buts.  I’m taking you.”

She nodded her head, as she took the tea from him.

It wound up Lucy had the flu.  The days and nights mixed together.  She was so weak.  Garcia took care of her a good deal of the time, as well as Maria.  Sometimes, you just wanted your mom and Maria was the closest thing she had. 

Completely out of commission for over a week, she felt useless.  Jiya had to help out more at the inn, and Garcia spent all his time taking care of her, save a few hours here and there.  He had been so sweet to her this entire time, but when he took care of her when she was sick, she fell deeper in love with him.  He did _everything_ for her.  He kept her hydrated, wiped the sweat from her forehead and chest with a cold cloth, and gently massaged her achy limbs.  _Maybe she had actually died in that accident.  How can you simultaneously feel like heaven and hell?_   As soon as she was better, she was handcuffing him to her bed.  The time for being subtle was over.

Unfortunately, her illness had really set her back, and the next thing she knew, it was Thanksgiving already.  There were a few guests at the inn, but most had relatives in town that they’d be spending the holiday with.  So, of course, Lucy had been invited to the Flynn family Thanksgiving.  She had been prepared to spend the day with Jiya, but then Maria had insisted both of them were part of the family.  She even insisted that Jiya bring Rufus with her.  Even Gabriel, Maria’s eldest son, was supposed to attend.

Lucy set the large table in the dining room, complete with a turkey floral arrangement that she had made with Maria.  Maria and Garcia manned the kitchen, the turkey in the oven bright and early.  Lucy offered to help with the preparations, so she peeled the potatoes since she couldn’t mess that up.

Gabriel and his girlfriend, Ashley, arrived around noon.  Lucy noticed the family resemblance immediately.  Gabriel was tall like Garcia, although Garcia had a couple inches on him.  He had the same green eyes and dark hair, with a touch of gray splashed throughout.  He was a good-looking man, but not as handsome as Garcia, in her humble opinion.  His girlfriend, Ashley, was tall and thin, with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes.  She was one of those natural beauties that didn’t even need to wear makeup, a fact that Lucy had to admit made her a little jealous. 

Rufus and Jiya arrived a little later, homemade apple and pumpkin pies for dessert in hand.  The men gathered in the living room, as the turkey cooked.  The ladies congregated around the kitchen table.  Ashley seemed really nice and she made the remark (at least twice), that she couldn’t believe Lucy was Garcia’s girlfriend.

“You’re so out of his league.”

Lucy never felt out of his league.  Sometimes, she wondered how in the hell no other woman had snatched him up.  Obviously, his wife had, but she meant since then.  He was without a doubt, a catch. 

They heard the two brothers, as they yelled and cheered from the living room for opposing teams in the traditional Thanksgiving football games.  Jiya had joked that Rufus was probably in living hell, being stuck between the two of them and not exactly being a huge sports fan himself.  She probably knew more about football than he did. 

Eventually, everyone except Maria, joined the men in the living room.  They snacked on appetizers and chips and dip, as they waited for the main meal to be ready.  Garcia sat on the couch next to Gabriel, with Rufus in the recliner.  Garcia pulled Lucy down into his lap and gave her a quick kiss.  It hit her like a brick at that exact moment.  Everyone was happy and together.  It was what family was supposed to be like, and she was now a part of that.  Well, almost.  At least she wasn’t uncomfortable. 

Maria informed everyone that dinner was ready a short while later.  They all took their seats around the table.  Maria was at the head at one end and Gabriel took the other.  Garcia carried out the turkey platter and placed it on the table, as Lucy, Ashley and Jiya placed the side dishes on the table as well.  Garcia sat next to his mom, with Lucy on the other side of him.  Rufus and Jiya sat across from them, and Ashley was in between Lucy and Gabriel.  One big, happy, (albeit unconventional) family.

Gabriel grabbed the bowl of mashed potatoes and his mother almost threw her roll at him.

“Not before we give thanks, Gabriel.  I swear, sometimes you two make it look like wolves raised you.”

Lucy and Ashley chuckled the most, but Rufus and Jiya did as well.

“Who wants to start?” Maria questioned, as she looked around the table.

Everyone peered at everyone else, or just looked at their hands (hello, Rufus). 

“Okay, fine.  I’ll start.  First, I’m thankful that my boys are once again with me on Thanksgiving.  I’m thankful that my ankle is finally on the mend.  I’m thankful for the help from Lucy and Jiya, while I was incapacitated because of said ankle.”

Garcia cleared his throat.

“And of course, from my wonderful son as well,” Maria added, as she flashed him a smile.

“Suck up,” Gabriel stated, as he glared sarcastically at his brother.

“Finally, I’m thankful that my two sons have managed to find amazing women who make them happy, _and_ keep them in line,” she laughed.

Garcia took Lucy’s hand in his, and lifted it to his lips.  He kissed her knuckles lightly in front of the entire table.  They kept their fingers intertwined, as they gazed longingly at each other.  Ashley held her hand out to Gabriel.  He looked at her like she was cross-eyed.

“What?”

“Really?” Ashley stated, as she rolled her eyes.  “Maybe, I hooked up with the wrong brother.”

Gabriel tugged on her arm, and kissed her lips as she turned back to him.

“I’ll go next,” Jiya announced.  “I’m thankful for my job, and the best boss in the world.  I’m thankful for new and old friends.  I’m thankful for my boyfriend, who I love even though he’s a weirdo.”

“Love you too,” Rufus muttered.

Jiya leaned over and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

“You next dear,” Jiya said as she elbowed Rufus.

“I’m thankful for my beautiful girlfriend, and the fact that Maria has graciously saved me from having to endure her cooking.”

Jiya smacked his arm.

“What?  Like you can make a turkey that looks and smells like that?”

Ashley and Gabriel went next, both being thankful for the obligatory health, family and love.  Garcia nudged Lucy, which indicated to her that she should go next. 

“I’m thankful for strangers taking pity on me and helping me when I needed it the most.  I’m thankful that those strangers have now become good friends.  I’m thankful Maria took me in and gave me a job and everything else.  I’m thankful for the patience you all show when I don’t remember things I should.  I’m thankful I have the best boyfriend ever and I’m thankful you allowed me to be part of your family for this holiday.”

“You’re a part of this family always,” Maria informed her.

“Always,” Garcia echoed, as he kissed her hand again.

“Your turn, brother.”

Garcia paused for a moment, and gathered his thoughts.

“I’m thankful for my family.  I’m thankful the town has remained pretty safe under my watch.  I’m thankful Mom is on the mend.  I’m mostly thankful for Lucy, who I’d be completely lost without.”

He hadn’t said those three words, but he didn’t need to.  They were written all over his face.  Lucy blushed and then leaned in and kissed him. 

“Alright.  Enough of this.  Let’s eat!” Gabriel announced.

Everyone dug into the food like a bunch of hungry hyenas that had just been fed raw hamburger.  She would have to ask Maria how she made the turkey, because it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in her life.  Lucy thought it was even better than her famous chili. 

“Gabe, are you and Ashley going with us to get the tree tomorrow?” Garcia asked.

“Of course!  It’s a Flynn family tradition.  I wouldn’t miss that.”

“Does Ashley know how early we need to leave?”

“Does Lucy?”

“Leave for what?” Lucy asked.

“To get our Christmas tree,” Gabriel answered.

“Oh, okay, um, I guess?”

“You didn’t tell her about it?” Gabriel questioned, as he glanced over at his brother.

“Not yet.  I forgot.”

“Why do we need to leave so early?  Is there something that I’m missing here?  Does Oregon have like a Christmas tree shortage or something?”

The brothers gave each other a knowing smirk.

“You’ll see, Lucy.  It’ll be fun, I promise,” Garcia declared, as he planted a kiss to her forehead.

He really didn’t want to wake her.  She was serenely peaceful as she slept.  He wanted to spend the rest of his days right here, with Lucy in his arms, in bed.  They hadn’t had sex yet, the timing had just felt off since she had the flu and was probably only back to about ninety percent normal.  It didn’t mean he didn’t want her, because he absolutely did.  He loved her more and more each day.  Every time he thought he couldn’t possibly love her more, he did.  If his heart enlarged anymore, it would explode. 

Part of him was terrified to take their relationship to the next level.  He hadn’t been this happy in a long time, and well, the first time hadn’t exactly ended in happily ever after.  He couldn’t survive that again.  Losing Lucy would kill him.  He’d ask her to marry him right now, if he wasn’t certain she’d run for the hills thinking he’d gone mad. 

He leant down and brushed his lips over hers.  She stirred slightly, and rolled over towards him. 

“Lucy, wake up darling.”

“Uh, what time is it?” she asked, as she rubbed her eyes.

“Six.”                                                                                

“Six in the morning?”

“I’d hope so.  I’d think you were sick again if you slept until six at night,” he laughed.

“Ugh.”

Lucy rolled back to her right side and buried her face into the pillow. 

“Dress warm.  Snow boots and all.”

Lucy moaned again and eventually got up. 

He was already down in the kitchen with Ashley, when she finally appeared.  He handed her a mug of coffee and she sat at the table with them. 

“You might want to rethink leggings, Lucy.  It gets cold out there real fast,” Ashley suggested.

“They’re fleece-lined.  My snow boots are fur-lined.  Well, faux fur of course.”

“Of course,” Ashley laughed.

“What is taking Gabe so damn long?” Garcia asked.

“He’s worse than a woman with his hair.  I swear he takes longer than I do to get ready,” Ashley joked.

“I heard that!” Gabriel yelled from the hallway. 

“Finally!  Let’s go.”

He felt distracted the entire ride, partly by the individual who occupied the passenger seat, and partly by his brother’s incessant criticism of his driving skills from the back. 

They finally arrived at their destination two hours later.  He parked the car, got out and deeply inhaled the crisp, mountain air.  He walked around to the passenger side, as he watched Lucy carefully.  Her face lit up, as she gazed around the mountain. 

“It’s so beautiful here.”

“Welcome to the tree farm, Lucy.”

She glanced around at the rows upon rows of various trees that dotted the snow-covered ground. 

“We’re cutting down our own tree?” she asked in surprise.

“We are,” he replied with a devilish smirk. 

She seemed to be excited by this prospect and he was glad.  This was a tradition in his family.  Since his mother usually had the day after Thanksgiving off when they were younger, the family would go and get their Christmas tree.  The cutting down their own part had become tradition when they had all moved to the Pacific Northwest.  He could easily envision he and Lucy continuing that tradition if they ever had a family of their own. 

“Let’s go.  We need to find the perfect one for the inn or Mom will have our heads and you know it,” Gabriel crowed.

When Lucy stepped out of the car, she was taken aback by the beauty that surrounded her.  Snow littered the ground.  Rows upon rows of green trees, sprinkled with a dusting of white, spanned the horizon as far as the eye could see.  It was like she had stepped into a winter wonderland.  There were signs pointing in different directions for the different types of trees; Douglas, Fraser, Noble and Balsam Firs, Bruce and White Spruce and even Scotch Pine. 

Lucy had been instructed that they needed a large Douglas fir for the inn.  When she looked up at the directional arrows, she groaned a little bit inside.  _It had to be the one that was the furthest from the car?_  

The four of them trudged along, as the soft snow crunched under their boots.  It was a blustery day, and Lucy was definitely cold, even though she had close to seven layers of clothing on. 

After they had walked for what felt like forever, (at least to her it did), she informed Garcia she needed a break.  Her little limbs had trouble keeping up with three tall people.  They all laughed, but stopped to let her catch her breath.

“You know, if you’re planning on murdering me and leaving my body where no one will ever find it, now might be a good time to just get it over with.  I don’t think I can walk anymore,” Lucy joked.

Gabriel burst out in laughter.  “I like her.  She’s perfect for you, brother.  Perfect.”

Garcia turned his back to her, and then squatted down.  “Get on my back, I’ll carry you.”

“Seriously?”

Lucy jumped on his back and he steadied himself, as he stood back up.  He carried her weight like it was a feather.  The only down side to it all, was that it was slightly colder being up a little bit higher. 

After a few more minutes, the brothers came to an agreement on the tree and Garcia let her back down onto the ground.  Then he turned and handed her the saw.

“Alright.  Let’s see what you and Ashley can do.”

“Me?”

He nodded his head and smiled.

“They don’t think we can do it, Lucy,” Ashley said, as she walked towards them.

“That’s not entirely true.  We put a friendly little wager on this.  One of us thinks you can do it, and the other…”

“Which one of you thinks we can’t do it?” Lucy demanded, as fire burned in her eyes.

“We’re not telling you.  It makes it more ‘sporting’ shall we say,” Gabriel replied.

Garcia winked at her.  Lucy knew what that meant.  He had every confidence in her and she wasn’t going to let him down, even if it took her all damn day and she wound up with frostbite.  Ashley took one end of the hand saw and Lucy took the other, as they positioned themselves on opposite sides of the tree. 

“Did we walk all this way so you guys could find the biggest one on the entire tree farm?” Lucy asked, as she gazed up at the imposing size of it. 

“We got this Lucy,” Ashley stated with confidence. 

Garcia took out his camera and went to town, as they sawed in a back and forth motion for a while.  Both ladies had started to tire, but then Lucy got a second wind, and put her foot on the tree’s trunk for leverage.  Once Ashley did that as well, the two made a great deal of progress and were almost all the way through.  Within a few minutes, the tree was down and the two women hugged each other.

Garcia turned to Gabriel and held out his hand.  “Pay up, brother.”

Ashley was shocked to hear that Gabriel had bet against her.  Lucy beamed at Garcia and gave him a wink back. 

“Alright.  One down, one to go,” Garcia stated.

“One to go?” Lucy asked, as she raised an eyebrow.

“We got one for the inn, but I still need one for my house.  Help me pick out a good one, Lucy.”

She pointed to the one next to it.  “Is that one okay, because I’m freezing?”

He looked at the tree, chuckled and shook his head in agreement.

The men cut down the second, and of course, smaller tree.  Lucy helped Garcia drag that one back through the snow.  He carried most of the tree, and she helped with the smaller end.  Ashley made Gabriel carry the big one on his own (which he struggled mightily with). 

It took forever, and Lucy felt like she really did have the beginning stages of frostbite.  They finally paid for the trees, and then strapped them to the top of the SUV.  She slumped back into the passenger seat, and prayed the heater worked fast.  Thankfully it did, and the ride back home didn’t seem all that daunting. 

 


	11. The Caveman Cometh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn and Lucy take the Christmas tree to Flynn’s house. The brothers Flynn share some bonding time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a reason this is rated M and this chapter is one of them. Proceed with caution.

Garcia and Gabriel lugged the Christmas tree into the inn.  Maria seemed pleased with their selection.  They anchored the tree in the stand, and then all went back into the kitchen for lunch, since they were famished. 

Maria was excited to get additional decorations and ornaments for the tree at the Christmas Village, and Gabriel and Ashley decided to go with her.  They invited Lucy and Garcia as well, but he reminded them he had to get his tree home.  They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. 

As they drove to his house, he started to become more anxious.  Lucy had never been to his place.  It had just never come up.  They either went out, or spent time in her room at the inn.  He had dared to dream that maybe one day it would be _their_ house.  _What if she didn’t like it?  What if she wanted a different house?  Could he move?  Who was he kidding, he’d move to Death Valley if she wanted him to._  

When they pulled up to the gray colonial, she turned to him with a surprised look.

“You live _here_?”

“Yes.  I know it’s a little big for one person, but I just liked the house a lot.  I figured if it got too big, I could always use it as an investment property.”

“It’s nice, Garcia.”

He parked the car and ushered her into the house.  Lucy held the door open, as he went back out to get the Christmas tree.  He brought it into the house and then propped it up against the wall.  Lucy set up the stand, while he made sure the tree didn’t topple over.

He placed the tree into the stand, and then crouched down to anchor the tree.  Lucy stopped him. 

“The tree’s crooked.”

He moved it more to the left.

“Nope, the other way babe.”

He moved the tree back to the right.

“A little more.”

She did it a few more times, before he broke down and laughed.

“You’re so not funny right now.”

“Really?  I thought I was,” Lucy laughed.

He anchored the tree into the stand and stood back up.  He waited a second to let the blood circulate back to his brain. 

When he turned, Lucy was next to him.  She wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head on his chest.  He kissed the crown of her head. 

“Now for my absolute favorite part: the lights.”

He rolled his eyes to make sure he got his point across.  This was, in fact, the most annoying part of a decorated tree. 

“Okay.  Where are your ornaments?  I can at least unpack them.”

“Um, I don’t have any.”

“What?  What do you mean?”

“Lucy, I haven’t had a tree since I moved here.  But, this year, I thought I’d get _us_ a tree.  We can go to the Christmas Village tomorrow and pick out our ornaments.”

He hoped he had made his intentions clear.  The big tree was the inn’s tree, but this one, would be theirs. 

“You want me to pick out ornaments for your tree?”

“Our tree,” he replied, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and planted a trail of kisses down her neck.

“Our tree,” she repeated, as she smiled up at him.

“We can start to make our own traditions.”

“I’d really, really like that,” Lucy replied, as she tugged on his turtleneck and pulled him down to kiss her again.

God, he loved to kiss her.  When you kissed her, every nerve cell in your body jolted with electricity.  The rush intoxicated him.  The taste of her skin on his lips and tongue was sweeter than honey.  He never wanted to stop.  Never.  He needed to stop, however, to get the lights on the tree, before she completely distracted him for the rest of the night.

Lucy ordered a pizza, while he cursed at the strings of lights.  It took him forever to get them on, despite Lucy’s help.  Finally, the mission had been completed, just as the pizza arrived.

He had originally wanted to cook something for her for dinner, but she told him that was crazy after the long day they had and to just order something.  So, they ate their pizza and drank a few beers, as they sat on the couch in his living room. 

After he cleaned up and put away the leftover slices, he turned off the overhead lights and turned on the Christmas tree.  The multi-colored lights shimmered and danced as they illuminated the room in a soft, romantic glow. 

He sat back down on the couch, and Lucy curled into him. 

“Did you have fun today?”

“I did.  It was fun getting to see you and your brother in action.”

“Oh, you liked that, did you?”

He gripped her hips and pulled her onto his lap.

“Mmm,” Lucy murmured contently.

“If you liked Thanksgiving, just wait until you experience a Flynn Family Christmas,” he joked.

“I can’t wait,” she responded, as she planted kisses along his neck. 

_He couldn’t either.  She was the only present he’d ever need or want for the rest of his life._

He knew a lot men that waited until the last minute to get their wives or girlfriends gifts for Christmas (or birthdays, well pretty much any special occasion or holiday one could think of).  He was _not_ one of those men.  He had one of her gifts planned for a while now.  He still needed to get more, because this was Lucy, and she deserved to be showered with gifts like the goddess she was, but he hoped she liked what he had planned.

His hands wandered her curves, as they maintained their make out session. 

Suddenly, he let go of her and pulled back.  “I forgot to show you the best part of the house!”

Lucy almost jumped off of him, he startled her so much.

He gently shifted her weight to his side, and stood up from the couch.  He turned and extended his hand for her.  She placed her slender hand in his, and he guided her out the French-doors that led to the patio.

He flicked the light on so she could see more easily.  The deck was made of dark wood, and had a table with four chairs next to an extensive kitchen and grill area.

“This is really nice,” Lucy stated, as her eyes scanned the area. 

She noticed a small set of stone steps that led down over to the side.

“Where do those go?”

He flicked another light switch and the stairs were illuminated.  She followed the path down to a lower section of the patio.  It contained a fire pit and chairs, as well as a bench built right out of the natural rock that faced the beach and cove below.  To the side was a Jacuzzi. 

“What?  How-how have you never brought me here before?”

“I didn’t want to seem presumptuous?  I never wanted you to think I was putting any kind of pressure on you, Lucy.”

“Don’t lie,” she said, as she ran her hands up his chest, “you were afraid if you brought me here, I might never want to leave.”

_He was totally fine with that.  In fact, he’d prefer it._

She stood up on her tiptoes and ran her tongue up his neck to his ear.  She gave him a playful bite to his earlobe, before she pulled away.

Right now, all he could think about was the gorgeous woman in his arms. 

“Lucy,” he breathed, as she continued to pepper him with kisses, “To be honest, I might prefer it if you didn’t want to leave.”

He breathed in deeply and held his breath, while he waited for her response. 

“I’m glad to hear that.  How would you feel if I started that tonight?”

_Calm yourself.  This doesn’t mean anything.  You’ve slept in a bed with her a few times before, and nothing ever happened.  Don’t get ahead of yourself here._  

“Hmmm, I'm not sure how my girlfriend would feel about that.”

She slapped his hand playfully.

“You’re unbelievable, you know that?”

It was his turn to tease.  He took her hand and led her to the fire pit.  After he ignited the fire, he sat in one of the chairs.  Lucy got up from the chair next to him, and sat on his lap.  She straddled him and held his face in her hands, as she kissed him ferociously.  His hands found their way from her hips and up her back.  They kissed deeply and desperately, as if they were terrified someone would tear the other one from them at any minute.

“Whoa, Lucy!  What’s gotten into you?”                             

“We’re all alone now.  No guests, or family to worry about.  Just you, and me,” she said, as she sucked a line down his neck.

_He wanted her more than anything right now and he was done fighting.  She was right, there was no one to disturb them.  He wasn’t going to push, but he wasn’t saying no either._

She started grinding on him and he was going to lose his mind soon.  She was too perfect, too beautiful.  This whole night, week, month; none of it seemed real. 

Lucy was highly impressed with Garcia’s home.  Besides the fact that the house sat on a private cove with its own beach, it was literally gorgeous.  Sure, it needed a woman’s touch when it came to some of the décor, but otherwise, it was a beautiful home.  Windows and hardwood floors as far as the eye could see, a gas fireplace, and high ceilings were just some of the home’s highlights.  If she had been a better cook herself, the kitchen would have been the most impressive room in the entire house.  It was spacious, had granite countertops, and a built-in oven and microwave, along with an island and some bar stools.  _Please don’t make me leave.  Would it be too pushy to try to move in with him?_    

He had already made an effort to make it feel like home when he called it “their” Christmas tree.  She couldn’t wait to decorate it.  The tree being crooked had provided her the perfect opportunity to tease him, which she really delighted in.  Although she never wanted to see him upset, she had to admit she enjoyed watching him struggle with the Christmas lights.  _All because he wanted it to be perfect for her._

Everything seemed to be headed in the right direction at that point, especially when he turned out the overhead lights and they had the romantic glow of the tree.  Then, the train derailed, and he drug her outside.  _Hadn’t she spent enough time outside today?_  

The deck was nice, and did have a spectacular view of the beach and cove.  _It must be magical in the summer._  

She had been wholly unprepared for what she found on the lower portion of the patio though.  The fire pit, the Jacuzzi, the bench carved from the hillside; they were all incredible.  Even in her wildest dreams, she could never have imagined a more beautiful home.  _She could so live here._ She even joked about it. 

Finally, though, they were alone.  Lucy had waited long enough, and she was tired of waiting.  As she straddled him in the chair and began grinding on him, she felt him grow hard against her.  She needed him and wanted him in the worst way possible. 

They kept at it for a few minutes, before she decided she needed to take this indoors.  Since he had moved so slowly at all her prior attempts, she opted for the one approach she thought he might find irresistible. 

“Garcia?”

“Lucy.”

“Do you know what I want right now?” she asked, as she planted kisses across his jaw line.

“What?”

“I want…”

She trailed her kisses from his jaw line to his neck.

“Yes?”

She moved back up to his mouth, as she planted teasing kisses to his lips.

“I _want_ …”

“Tell me.”

“ _You_ to…”

He grabbed her ass, and pressed her up against him harder.  _Now we were getting somewhere.  Her plan was working!_

She bit his collarbone, as she ran her hands down his chest.  He sat up and moved towards the chair’s edge to get a better grip on her. 

“ _Loocy_.  Tell me what you want.”

She continued to kiss him slowly and deeply, and then she suddenly pulled away.

“Take me upstairs _and_ …”

“And?”

His chest heaved up and down, and he panted for breath. 

“Tell me,” he said with a slightly primal growl.

_That should not have just turned her on like it did._

He trailed kisses down her neck, and made sure he scraped his teeth on his way down.  He slipped his hands under her sweater, and moved them up and down her spine.

“ _And_ …”

“God, Lucy, please!”

“Ravage me,” she whispered into his ear.

She will never forget the expression of devastation that he gave her after she said it.  In fact, she’s pretty sure he hadn’t breathed since.

He raised his eyebrow in confusion for a second, but then crashed his mouth upon hers.  The next thing she knew, his hands were under her thighs, and he lifted her up as he stood.  His mouth was still tattooed to her skin, as he readjusted his hold on her.

She had every confidence that he wouldn’t drop her on the way back into the house, although there were a couple sketchy moments here and there. 

He basically threw her on his bed, as she laughed.  _She had asked for this, although she could still see the hesitation written on his face._  

She pulled him on top of her, and yanked his turtleneck up to his neck.  He pulled it off the rest of the way, and then braced his hands on either side of her.  He pushed her arms above her head, and pinned them down by her wrists with his one arm.  He placed teasing kisses and bites along her stomach, as he used his free hand to slowly inch her sweater up.

It was too tender and too sensual.  She didn’t want that now.  She wanted him in the most carnal way possible: hot, rough and inside her.  She bucked up hard against him, and arched her back.

Suddenly, he pulled her sweater up roughly, and unclasped her bra at the same time.  He slid it down her shoulders, as he plunged her back into the mattress.  Her leggings and underwear were pulled down in one fell swoop to her ankles, and then he yanked them off her feet.  He undid the button on his jeans and slid the zipper down. 

She was naked and bare in front of him, and the heat expressed in his eyes told her everything she needed to know right then.  He was just as awestruck as she was. 

He removed his jeans and boxer briefs, then paused and reached for a condom. 

“Garcia, please,” she begged.

A second later he kissed her roughly, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.  He slid into her, and she moaned in pleasure.  Their coupling was desperate, rough and fierce, as they thrusted and clawed and kissed each other senseless.  They could take their time and explore later.  Now, she just needed him to tame the tempest of her desire. 

He exceeded every single expectation and then some.  When they had finished, she felt completely ravaged in every sense.  He pulled her gently towards him, and whispered into her ear, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

She kissed him fiercely again.

“You were perfect, my love.”

“I love you, Lucy.  I love you more than anything.”

“I love you too, Garcia.”

He kissed her softly, deeply, as if he poured his entire heart into her. 

“I just want to make you happy.  It’s all that matters,” he said, as he kissed her hand.

“I _am_ happy.  Happy, with you.”

That interlude led to round two, and he took his good old time then.  She couldn’t compare him against any other lover she’d had, given her memory issues, but she damn well knew it wasn’t normal to have _this_ many orgasms.  If she would have known what he was capable of doing with that mouth of his alone (never mind the deliciousness of the rest of him), she would’ve handcuffed him to the bed like she originally planned sooner. 

Round two had allowed her to experience the full use of his long fingers and tongue, along with the added bonus of his scruff.  He hadn’t shaved that morning, since they would be out in the cold to get the tree.  She felt the burn of his stubble, as it scraped against her inner thighs.  _This must be what it feels like to be electrocuted._ Every synapse and nerve ending burned and tingled.  She was overwhelmed and overstimulated to her core. 

Completely spent, she curled up on his chest like a cat napping in the summer sun.  She wanted to bottle this moment, as the scent of their skins collided.  A fusion of pheromones, perfume and cologne permeated her pores, as they steeped into her soul.  She felt as if she had just been worshipped from head to toe.  She also suspected, that their night hadn’t quite ended just yet.

He lost his mind last night.  It no longer functioned as part of a sentient being, just on instinct alone.  He’d be dead without that instinct, seeing that he stopped breathing about six hours ago.  Lucy’s words repeated in his head, like an echo trapped in a canyon.  “Ravage me.”

Those were the last words his brain registered, until she screamed his name in pleasure.  He remembered that, but not much else.  At one point, his inner caveman made an appearance, as words eluded him and he grunted and groaned instead.  She was so beautiful, his brain short-circuited.  It just repeated the same phrases over and over again.  _Me want.  Me want her.  Me want her now!_  

Dawn had broken before sleep had ever occurred.  Eventually, the fervor of the day and night’s strenuous activities exacted their toll on their bodies.  He dozed with Lucy draped over him, limbs still intertwined, completely spent and satiated at the same time.  He wished this could be routine for the rest of his life. 

He woke a few hours later.  Lucy slept soundly still, and he didn’t want to wake her.  He just stared at the celestial charmer in his arms.  _Maybe, just maybe, God himself had sent her to him.  Or maybe it was Lorena, his angelic first wife, tired of his perpetual mourning._   Whatever the reason, grateful didn’t even compare to how he felt.  He meant it when he told her he loved her more than anything. 

His phone dinged a second later, and he reached over with his long arms.  There were two texts from his pain in the ass brother, who wondered where they were.  They had planned to have breakfast with the family this morning, but they had slept right through it.  He texted his brother back.

_Figured you could spend some quality time with Mom-_ Garcia

_You sure it has nothing to do with the brunette in your bed?-_ Gabriel.

_Fuck you-_ Garcia

_Sorry, that’s Ashley’s job!_ -Gabriel.

He shook his head, and put his phone back down on the bedside table.  He’d eventually catch up with his family. 

Lucy had ideas other than breakfast, when she finally did rouse from sleep.  Their desperate need for each other consumed the both of them, their skin branded by their lover’s lips.  Lucy had definitely marked him in a few choice spots last night, and continued to do so this morning.  _Whatever she wanted, she could have._  

As much as he would’ve loved to spend the day in bed with her, he knew his family too well.  They’d show up at his house at some point.  Reluctantly, they eventually had to get up.

They made it back to the inn around lunchtime, and Lucy quickly ran upstairs to get showered and changed, since she was still in the same clothes as yesterday.  Unfortunately, this left him in the kitchen with his brother and his incessant teasing. 

They managed to make it through an awkward family lunch, and then they all headed out to the Christmas Village.  Lucy and Ashley bolted toward the ornament stands, which left the members of the family Flynn to their own devices.  It was strange being with only his mother and brother.  His arm felt alien without Lucy on it. 

They caught up with Lucy and Ashley a little while later.

“What did you buy?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise for our tree,” she responded.

“No hints?”

“No.  Patience, my love.”

She flashed him that smile that devastated him every single time. 

After an hour, the two men decided they had had enough, and took some of the ladies’ packages back to the inn.  They had taken two cars for this specific purpose.  He had a sneaking suspicion Lucy would come back with enough stuff to make his house look like an elf lived there.  He didn’t really care, though.  If it made her happy, he was happy. 

“So,” Gabriel said, as he handed his brother a beer, “How serious is this thing with Lucy?”

He paused for a second, not because he didn’t know how to answer, but because he hadn’t expected the question to fly out of his brother’s mouth.

“Deadly.”

“What?”

“You asked how serious and I’m answering you.  I’m deadly serious about Lucy.  I love her.”

“She seems nice.  Mom likes her, so that’s always helpful.  You ran her prints, right?”

“What?  What the hell kind of question is that?” he asked incredulously.

“You know, to make sure she wasn’t some kind of con artist or psycho.  You have to admit, the amnesia thing is weird.  I thought you said it was only temporary, though?”

“I had to run her prints, but it was to try to find out who she was, not as my own personal vetting system for dates!”

“Really?  If I was a cop, I’d do it all the time,” Gabriel laughed.

“The world thanks you, trust me.”

“Thanks me?” Gabriel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“For _not_ being a cop.  I _would_ pay good money to see you get shot, though.”

“What?  Nice damn brother you are!”

“With a _vest_ of course, _you idiot_!  It hurts like all hell.  You’d cry like a baby for a week.”

“Betcha I wouldn’t.  If you can take it, I can take it.”

“Really?  Care to wager on that?  I’ll take you over to the station right now.  It’ll be the highlight of their week.”

They heard the door to the kitchen open, but continued their sibling squabble. 

“Let’s go!  Right now,” Gabriel insisted, as he stood up suddenly.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Maria asked, as she entered the living room, Lucy and Ashley right behind her.

“I’m taking Gabe to the shooting range at the station,” he answered with a sick smirk.

“ _No_ , you’re not.  He’ll wind up shooting himself somehow,” Maria advised with a roll of her eyes.

“Babe, we still need to decorate the tree, remember?” Lucy asked coyly.

“I didn’t forget.”

“You are not going to a firing range,” Ashley declared, as she glared at Gabriel.

“Fine.  I won’t go.”

“Chicken,” he muttered under his breath.

Lucy tugged on his hand, as she tried to pull him towards the kitchen.

“This isn’t over,” Gabriel mumbled back.

“Yes, yes it is,” Ashley said, as she pushed him towards the couch.

 


	12. The North Pole and Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Flynn decorate the Christmas tree and after a few other activities, attend the town’s tree lighting ceremony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably a few more chapters? I know what I want to do, just keeping finding more fluffy situations I want to include. Maybe I don't want to let go of this fic? 
> 
> Anyway, enough of my rambling, PLEASE NOTE this chapter is another reason why this is rated M.

“What were you and your brother fighting about?”

“It’s not important.  He’s an ass, always has been, always will be.”

They pulled up to the house, and he couldn’t help but notice the overnight bag she had slung over her shoulder.  _The thought of falling asleep and waking with her in his arms brought a smile to his face._  

He opened the trunk, and pulled out the packages.

“Lucy, did you buy the entire Christmas Village out of stock?” he joked, as he lugged them inside.

“I had no choice, since this house looks like the Grinch lives here!”

_He knew his house would end up like the North Pole, he just knew it_. 

Lucy unpacked the ornaments she bought from her packages, and began to adorn the tree. 

“So, what was this surprise you got for the tree?”

“You have no patience, do you?” Lucy laughed, as she shook her head.

She reached into one of the bags, and pulled out a small item wrapped in tissue paper.  She handed it to him carefully, and he had the distinct feeling this was somehow fragile.  He held it gingerly in his hand, as he peeled back the layers of tissue paper.  Inside, was an ornament in the shape of two snowmen.  It appeared to be handmade.  One of them had a pink hat and scarf, and the other had blue ones.  Underneath the pink one was her name, and underneath the blue one, his.  The top of the ornament said “Christmas 2018.”   

“Do you like it?”

“Do I-I love it, Lucy.  Why wouldn’t I?”

“I didn’t want to be presumptuous or anything.”

He shook his head.  _Just another reason he loved her._   He gathered her into his arms, tilted her head up, and kissed her deeply.  She flung her arms around his neck and twisted her tongue along his. 

“I love you, Lucy.  Nothing will ever change that.  Nothing.”

“I love you too.  Sometimes, I have to pinch myself because it feels like I’m living in a fairy tale.  I’m just happy all the time, and it’s because of you,” she responded, as she trailed kisses along his jaw.

“You?  I have to ask myself everyday if I’m dreaming.  I still can’t believe a woman like you, would want someone like me,” he said, as he pulled back and shook his head.

“Why do you do that?  You’re amazing.  Tell you what, you make that meal you keep promising me, I will finish the tree, and then later I will show you just how much I love you,” she whispered, as she nipped his ear.

_She was going to be the death of him, he was sure of it._   A shiver ran down his entire body.  A nod was all he had managed in response. 

Lucy continued her Martha Stewart impersonation, as he sliced and diced in the kitchen.  At one point, he almost burnt the chicken he stared at her so long.  She flitted about the living room, as she decided where to put certain decorations.  He knew when she set her mind to something, there was no stopping her.  So, he concentrated on their dinner. 

When he glanced back up, he hardly recognized his own house.  The tree was gorgeous, filled with glittery ornaments and garland, and accented with candy canes.  She had draped lighted garland on the mantle of the fireplace, and there were still a bunch of packages she hadn’t opened.

“The mantle looks nice, but aren’t you forgetting something important?”

She raised her eyebrow back at him in confusion. 

“No stockings?”

“They’ll be delivered to the inn in two days.  I had them customized with our names.  The stockings match the tree skirt.”

The tree skirt was white, with springs of green holly and red berries.  It was simple, yet elegant; a lot like Lucy. 

“You like it?” Lucy asked, with a wave of her hand.

“It’s fantastic, Lucy.”

“Good.  Glad you think so.  Now, go grab that fancy camera of yours, because I am getting a picture of the two of us in front of my masterpiece.”

“Maybe I should teach you about photography.  You might have an eye for it.  Although, I’d hate to lose my model.”

“I’ll break the camera and you know it,” she laughed.

He grabbed his camera and tripod, and set up facing the tree. 

“We should use these as our Christmas cards,” Lucy suggested.

“Whatever you want, darling,” he answered, as he planted a kiss to the crown of her head.

If there was something Garcia Flynn wasn’t good at, Lucy surely couldn’t name it (well, communication might be one thing, but he had been much better of late). 

When she had finished the tree, she peered into the kitchen.  The aroma of fresh rosemary wafted through the air, and blended nicely with the pine scent of the Christmas tree.  She snuck up behind him, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Mmm, that smells _really_ good.”

He stopped plating the food, turned around, and pulled her back into his arms.  He planted a soft kiss to her lips, then moved to her neck.

“You smell _better_ ,” he mused, as he continued to kiss up and down her neck.

She lifted his head from her neck, and stared into his emerald eyes.  She crashed her mouth into his, and ran her hands up and down his chest.  They kissed frantically, yet deeply for what felt like forever, until she pulled away breathless.

“Our food’s getting cold.”

“Hmm, I don’t care.”

She pulled back from him instantly, and he gawked at her as if he was a dog that just got whacked with newspaper for peeing in the house. 

“I care.  I’m starving.”

She started to walk towards the dining room, paused and turned her head back to him.

“Plus, you can’t have your dessert if you don’t eat your dinner.”

She tried to say that as seductively as she could, and she guessed she’d hit the mark based on the dumbfounded expression plastered on his face. 

She had never witnessed anyone eat so fast in her life.  She, on the other hand, savored every single, juicy bite of the rosemary chicken he had made.  She knew she was torturing him.  At one point, she swore he was ready to grab her and take her right there on the dining room table.  _A little part of her secretly wished he would._

Once they were done, Lucy cleared the dirty dishes from the table.  When she came back into the living room, she noticed the fireplace and Christmas tree were lit, along with a bunch of candles. 

“Gar-”

He pulled her into his arms, and kissed her passionately.  She felt his hands wander down her back to her thighs, before he picked her up.  She wrapped her legs around his waist, as he pressed her up against the living room wall.

“It’s dessert time,” he whispered into her ear.

“Is it?  Have you been a good boy?” she teased.

“ _Very_ ,” he growled.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

He pulled her shirt up and over her head, before he dove back into her.  He kissed her on every inch of bare skin available.  She felt how aroused he was already, as he pressed into her harder.

Suddenly, he let her down easy and pulled away.  She was wrecked.  Her hair was tousled about, as her chest heaved up and down.  She watched him, as he walked backwards towards the couch.  He grabbed one of the blankets from atop the couch, unfurled it, and spread it out on the floor in front of the fire.

Lucy still hadn’t caught her breath.  She braced herself against the wall, and stared at the man who drove her desperate with desire. 

He removed his shirt and crossed the room, just as fast as he had pulled away.  He scooped her back up in his arms, and kissed her deeply.

He carried her over to the blanket, and laid her down on it.  After he took off her jeans, he pulled her tightly into his arms.

“Mmm, I like the burgundy bra and panties.  My imagination didn’t do you justice.”

“How could you have imagined them if this is the only the second time we’ve-”

“You dropped them in the kitchen when you bought them, remember?”

_How could she forget the lingerie debacle?_   _The whole bag fell out right in front of him._  

“Oh, yeah.”

Her mind wandered for a moment, but then she shifted her weight and pushed him onto his back.  She was going to take her time with him tonight, and she would enjoy every single minute of it.

The fire flickered in the background, as they made love.  The colored lights on the tree reflected the wicked glint in her eyes, as she rode him to ecstasy.  The night was perfect, _she_ was perfect, _they_ were perfect. 

He wondered if it was too soon to ask her to move in.  He wanted this to be his reality every day.  She had literally made him the happiest man alive. 

Since he had never been so happy, he had the awful habit of wondering when it would all come crashing down.  It seemed every time he had been overjoyed, that’s exactly what happened.  He just prayed he was wrong, and that fate had finally granted him a reprieve.

Lucy slept peacefully, snuggled tightly in the blankets by the fire.  He cradled her in his arms, as he planted soft kisses to her forehead and cheek.  He loved her so much, there were not enough words in the English language, (or any other that he knew), to express it. 

Lucy stirred and opened her eyes.  She smiled widely at him and he melted. 

“Morning beautiful.”

“Mmm, good morning,” she said, as she tightened her grip on him.

“Time to get up.  You’ve got to go to work, my darling.”

She groaned and attempted to roll away from him, but he constricted his arms around her like a boa.

“I’ll drop you off.”

“Where are you going?” she asked, as she suddenly sat up and turned to him.

“Christmas shopping.”

She pouted and laid her head back on his chest.

“Really?  Without me?”

“How else am I supposed to shop for your presents then?”

“Ooh, presents for _me?”_

“Yes, presents for _you_ ,” he answered, as he tapped her nose playfully.

She lifted her head up, and tilted it to gaze at him. 

“Speaking of presents, what do you want for Christmas?” she questioned, as she ran a finger down the length of his chest.

An unintelligible noise escaped him, something half between a moan and a groan.  This woman was insatiable, and he had serious doubts he’d be able to keep up with her.

“Just you, Lucy.”

“You’ve got to want _something_ besides me,” she responded, as she planted kisses down his chest.

“Just you.  Just my Lucy.”

“Garcia!  I can’t exactly wrap myself in a bow and pop out from your mother’s tree.  Be serious!” she stated, as she slapped his hand playfully.

“But that’s exactly what I want,” he whined, as he flipped her onto her back.  “Don’t you want to give me what I want, Lucy?”

“Not if it means scarring your mother and giving her guests a heart attack.”

He pouted back at her and she laughed.  Truth be told, he didn’t want anyone to see her naked but him. 

“Okay, time to get up.  I’m going to be late for work,” she said, as she tried to pry him off of her.

He groaned, as he dropped his head into the crook of her neck. 

“Can’t we just stay right here for the rest of our lives?”

“Wouldn’t that be-ow.”

Lucy grabbed her head with both hands.

“What’s the matter?”

She held her head for a few seconds and then let go.

“That was…weird.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.  Usually, when I get headaches like that it means I’m getting a memory flash.  But this time, it never came.”

Her headache quickly killed his amorous mood, as concern flooded his heart and head instead.  He gave her a chaste kiss on her lips, and held her in his arms.

“Do you want to go see Dr. Mason about the headaches?”

“No.  I’ll be fine.  I do need to get a shower before work, though.”

She stood up, wrapped one of the blankets around her, and went upstairs to take a shower.  Normally, he would’ve asked to join her, but now didn’t seem like the right time.  Later. 

Lucy got dropped off at the inn, and entered through the kitchen door.  Jiya was already in the kitchen, as Maria manned the stove.  Jiya leaned over towards her, and whispered so that Maria wouldn’t be able to hear them.  “Looks like someone had a _good night_.”

“Jiya!”

“What?  Do you think Maria is clueless that you’re sleeping with her son?”

“I’m sure she isn’t, but I don’t think she wants it thrown in her face,” Lucy whispered back.

“He’s good in bed, isn’t he?”

“Jiya!”

“What?  You look-well sexed.”

Lucy slapped her arm hard, and Maria turned and stared at them with a raised eyebrow.

“What are you two whispering about over there?” Maria questioned.

“Nothing, just girl gossip,” Jiya answered, as she tried to keep a straight face.

“Are both of you ladies going to the tree lighting this evening?”

“Tree lighting?” Lucy asked, with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Lucy, you’re gonna love it!  The town gets this humongous tree, and everybody goes, and we have hot chocolate and there’s a Santa for the kids.  It’s like an entire festival of ice,” Jiya explained.

“Just tell my son you want to go, Lucy.  He’ll take you.  Begrudgingly, but he will,” Maria laughed.

Maria left the kitchen for the dining room then, with a plate of pancakes in her hands.  Jiya leaned back over to Lucy, and peered around like she was about to spill the secret of life. 

“There’s also a local legend that if you find yourself being kissed under the hidden mistletoe, you’ve found your soulmate.  I’m so finding one of them and kissing the hell out of Rufus.”

“Hidden mistletoe?”

“Oh, you’ll see.  They hide it in the strangest places all over town.  It’s so much fun.”

“Okay, I’ll have to take your word on that,” Lucy laughed.

“Oh, wear something warm.  And cute.”

Lucy saluted Jiya, and then walked into the dining room.

A few hours later, Lucy rummaged through her small closet in search of something warm and cute to wear tonight.  She didn’t have much in the way of clothes, or any possessions really, but she had managed to mix and match different things to create a style of her own.  She wound up selecting a pair of blue skinny jeans and an ivory colored sweater.  It was simple, but paired with her ivory colored pea coat and matching snow boots against her raven hued hair, she would stand out. 

She got a text from Garcia that he would meet her at the tree lighting, and she should go with his Mom.  He hadn’t exactly explained what delayed him, but she trusted him, so she hadn’t given it a second thought.

She climbed into Maria’s car, and they drove the few blocks towards the town square.  A light dusting of snow had fallen the night before, and it glistened off the grass and trees in the twinkling starlight. 

They pulled into the parking lot at the town square.  There were silver and light blue snowflakes hung from the lampposts, and giant candy canes illuminated the path towards the Christmas tree.  It was as if Frosty the Snowman lived here himself. 

Lucy and Maria staked out a good spot by the tree, and they were joined by Jiya and Rufus about ten minutes later.  She also spied Emma and Jessica in her peripheral vision.  _Always so much fun when those two are around._  

When Lucy peeked back at them, they were gone.  _Maybe they moved to the other side of the country, although the other side of the tree was nice as well._

__

He parked his car in the parking lot, and strolled towards the tree, as he scanned the crowd for Lucy and his Mom.  He accidentally bumped into a woman, as he tried to find them.

“I’m sorry.”

The woman turned around, and he cursed his awful luck.  It was Emma.

“Garcia!  Why don’t you watch the tree lighting with me?”

“Uh, thanks Emma, but I’m looking for my Mom.”

“Oh.”

“And, Lucy.”

“Oh.  I didn’t realize you were still seeing her.”

She scrunched her nose, and shook her head in disapproval.

“I am still seeing her.  I plan to keep seeing her.  Have a nice night, Emma.”

He slipped into the crowd, and as far away from her as he could possibly get.  He had tried to let Emma down easily on many different occasions.  She just didn’t want to seem to take the hint that he wasn’t interested. 

He scoured the crowd of people in search of his treasured gem of a girlfriend.  He heard her laughter before he ever saw her.  He moved towards the sound of her voice, and then he saw her.  Her dark hair spilled down the shoulders of her white pea coat like chocolate syrup over vanilla ice cream.  She looked good enough to eat, and that was only from the back. 

He snuck up behind her, and slid his arms around her waist. 

“Hello, gorgeous,” he stated, as he placed a kiss to her cheek.

“You’re late.”

“No, I’m not.  The tree is still dark.”

He held her like that for the duration of the ceremony.  Finally, they had begun the countdown for the tree.  When they got to five, he noticed snow had started to fall.  Tiny white wisps of snow laced in Lucy’s luscious, brown hair and made her more angelic than ever. 

The tree lit up with brilliant pastels of green, red, yellow, blue and orange.  The garland glittered in the colored lights, and he had never been happier.  He took a mental picture, as well as one on his phone.  It wasn’t as great as his camera, but it would have to do.  His family and his friends were all gathered in one spot (well, all except his brother, but he was used to that). 

After the tree was lit, Lucy turned and planted a quick kiss to his lips.  Her smile was a mile wide, and he just loved it when she smiled. 

A bunch of the townspeople greeted him, but they also greeted Lucy, and his heart swelled with pride.  She was part of this community now, and many of them had come to see them as the town’s darling couple.  He guessed that from their prospective, it was a story that was a little unbelievable: the amnesia car crash victim and the chief of police that fell for her. 

__

“Looks like they’re cozier than ever,” Jessica stated to Emma, as they watched Flynn and Lucy intently.

“Not if I get my way.  I’m done being nice about it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Not sure, but I need to figure it out.  And I need to do it fast.”

“Yeah, like preferably before he proposes,” Jessica joked.

“I just do not understand what it is about her.”

Emma shook her head, and her and Jessica turned and walked back to the bar.

__

As soon as the tree was lit, Jiya took off with Rufus in search of the hidden mistletoe.  Lucy had to laugh at her friend’s enthusiasm.  That girl would not be deterred tonight.

A few of the townspeople greeted Garcia, and then her as well, and she felt really strange at first.  The way that he beamed back proudly at them and tightened his grip on her hip, made her heart skip a beat.  He was in love with her, and he didn’t care who knew it.

Maria found a few of her friends and left to chat with them, which left the two of them alone.

“So, don’t tell me you were out buying presents this whole time?”

“Okay.”

“So, what _were_ you doing then?”

“Lucy, you just told me not to tell you I was buying presents this whole time.”

She slapped his forearm, and it wasn’t exactly playful. 

“Ouch!  What the hell was that for?”

“Being a smart ass for one.  Garcia, I told you that I don’t need all these gifts.”

“Who said they were all for you?” he asked, as he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into an embrace.

“Oh.  Well, if they’re for your family…”

She trailed off when she gazed up at him.  He wore this ridiculous smirk like the cat that ate the canary. 

“What is _that_ look for?”

“What?”

“How many of them were for me?”

He paused and started counting, half out loud and half in his head. 

“Garcia?”

“95%?” he responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I don’t believe you!” she yelled, as she wacked his arm even harder this time.

“But I _want_ to spoil the woman I love.  What’s wrong with that?” he asked, as he kissed her neck.

“I can’t spoil you back.  That’s what’s wrong with it.”

“That’s not true.”

He released his hold around her waist, and turned her to face him.

“You spoil me all the time.”

“How do I spoil you?”

“You let me kiss you whenever I want,” he answered, as he placed a soft kiss to her lips.  “You also let me kiss you _wherever_ I want,” he whispered into her ear.

“Stop messing around.  I’m serious.”

“So was I.”

He kissed her more passionately this time, although it was short.  They _were_ still out in public, and he _was_ the chief of police after all.

“You’re impossible,” Lucy chuckled.

“But you love me anyway.”

“I do.  Now, before any more people stare at us, what’s the deal with this hidden mistletoe Jiya was going off about?”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were interested.  Come on, I spotted one on the way over here that no one else will ever find.”

He took her hand in his, and they walked out of the square and into the flutter of flurries. 

 


	13. Part Angel, Part Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn and Lucy hunt for the hidden mistletoe. An impromptu date occurs. Lucy and Jiya go Christmas shopping for their men. Emma discovers some critical information about Lucy. Flynn gets an early Christmas present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy your last chapter of sex and candy before footwear starts flying and stuff hits the fan.  
> Warning: Rated M material in this chapter.

“Where are you taking me?” Lucy asked, as he pulled her along the sidewalk.

“It’s a secret.  You’ll see.”

The snow had picked up slightly at this point, and it was caked in Lucy’s hair.  It stuck to his as well, but for some reason seemed to melt into it instead.  _Probably due to his hotness._

There are other couples out and about as well, presumably also in search of the hidden mistletoe, along with families who have come to sample the hot chocolate and confectionary creations the local bakers have concocted. 

As they walked hand in hand along Coastal Avenue, they were almost bowled over by Jiya and Rufus, as they emerged from Wharf Alley.

“Whoa!” Flynn said, as he instinctively pulled Lucy closer to his side.

The smile plastered to Jiya’s face, is the widest Lucy has ever seen.  They are almost giddy with laughter, as they catch their breath. 

“What the hell were you two doing?” Flynn asked with a raised brow.

Rufus and Jiya turned to each other and giggled, as Jiya held up a piece of mistletoe in her hand. 

“Ah,” Flynn chuckled.

“I told you I’d find one, didn’t I, Lucy?”

“Yes, yes you did.”

“You two better get on it.  There’s people running all over and not a lot left.”

Jiya grabbed Rufus’ hand, and pulled him in the opposite direction of them.  Rufus tipped his hat to them.  “Chief.  Mrs. Chief,” he joked.

Flynn laughed and squeezed her hand a little bit tighter.  _She wouldn’t mind being Mrs. Chief or Mrs. Flynn one bit_. 

They walked on to the harbor.

“Where are we going?”

“The lighthouse.”

“The lighthouse?”

He nodded in response, as he led her down the pier towards the lighthouse.  A group of teenagers flew passed them on their way down.

“There’s nothing there Chief.  Don’t waste your time,” one of them yelled.

Flynn ignored the kids, and pulled her further down the pier.  They reached the lighthouse in a few steps. 

“Why are we going here if they just said there’s nothing here?” she asked in confusion.

“Because they’re dumb teenagers who do not have keys to the lighthouse like I do.”

He pulled out a keychain with three keys attached.  He unlocked the door, and held it open for Lucy.  She stepped inside, and he shut the door behind them.  It was small, and she prayed her claustrophobia would not make a repeat appearance. 

He pulled a flashlight from the wall, flicked it on, and then grabbed her hand.

“Up here,” he stated, as he led her up the spiral staircase.

They climbed what felt like a million stairs, and finally stopped in the lantern room.  The lantern room was the glassed-in housing at the top of the lighthouse tower, where the lamp and lens were contained.  Lucy hadn’t anticipated the amount of heat the lamp gave off. 

“Wow, this a gorgeous view of the town, but it’s hotter than Hades up here.”

“I know.  We aren’t going to stay long.  Look at what’s tied to the lens,” he advised.

She moved closer to the lamp and lens, as she inspected them.  As she gazed down to the lens, she saw the mistletoe taped to it as plain as day.  The damn thing literally reflected out into the harbor like the bat signal.  Leave it to her boyfriend to be the only one who seemed to have noticed.  She pulled the mistletoe up, and removed the tape from the lens.

“You have got to be kidding me!  How in the world was anyone supposed to find this?” she asked incredulously.

“They’re not,” he answered matter-of-factly.

“What?”

“Who do you think has to hide these things?”

“You?”

“Me, the Mayor, and a couple people from the town council.”

“So, is that why you were late?”

“No.  That’s not why.”

He took her hands in his, and pulled her into his arms.  With the mistletoe still in her hand, she slipped her arms around his neck, and held the mistletoe above their heads.

“I hear there’s some local tradition about kissing under the hidden mistletoe.”

His lips locked with hers an instant later.  He kissed her so forcefully, that Lucy felt like she might fall over. 

“There is a tradition, but I don’t need a plant to tell me you’re my soulmate, Lucy.  I’ve known that since I first kissed you.”

“So, then-why do this?” she asked, as she gestured toward the mistletoe and the lantern room. 

“Because you wanted to.  So, I hid one I knew no one could find since I have the only key.”

“You did all this for me?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Of course.  But, this isn’t all.  Follow me.”

He guided her by the hand back down the stairs to the next level: the watch room.  He gestured for her to sit on one of the crates in the room.  He lit two lanterns, and placed them on opposite ends of the room, before he laid down a blanket on the floor. 

She eyed him suspiciously the entire time, not quite sure what he had up his sleeve.  He reached behind another crate and pulled out a picnic basket. 

“I figured I’d make a real date out of this, since you were determined to participate,” he explained.

_This must be a dream.  No man is this amazing._   She watched with a shocked expression on her face, as he unpacked the picnic basket.  He had champagne, strawberries, grapes, cheese and crackers.  This man was spontaneous and romantic, and every time she thought she couldn’t possibly love him anymore than she already did, he managed to do something like this to prove her wrong.

She leaned over to him, and cupped his cheeks in her hands.  “I have no idea what I did to have convinced a man like you to love my klutzy butt, but I’m glad I did,” Lucy teased.

“Your klutzy butt is one of the reasons I fell in love with you.  It gave me plenty of reasons to get my hands on you.  And, once I had, I never wanted to let you go.”

“Don’t you dare, Garcia Flynn.”

He snapped his head up, and met hers with a panicked expression on it.

“Let me go,” Lucy clarified.

“Never.”

_God, he loves this woman._   He’d shout it from the top of the lighthouse, if it she wanted him to.  He loves her, and he doesn’t care who knows it. 

They finished their romantic picnic, locked the lighthouse back up, and then proceeded to go back to his place.  Even though it was still snowing, they sat at the fire pit wrapped in a blanket, and curled into each other.

“Garcia?”

“Yes, Lucy?”

“Is the Jacuzzi on?”

“It is.”

“Can we use it?”

“We can.”

He pulled the cover off, and stared back at her in anticipation.  He assumed she meant without their clothes, but he waited for her cue to make sure.  Yet, she just stood there and stared at the water.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Can anyone see us from here?”

He laughed, “Not unless they’re sitting in an invisible boat in the cove.”

“Good.”

She unbuttoned her pea coat, and placed it on the chair.  He followed suit, and removed his coat as well.  This process repeated itself, until they were both in their birthday suits.  The icy cold snowflakes tickled his body, and he jumped into the water as fast as he could. 

Lucy squealed when the snow struck her naked body, and she jumped in a moment later.  He wasted no time, and scooped her up into his arms.  Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist.  He kissed her deeply, and then trailed kisses down her neck.  She responded nicely to his kisses, licks and bites, and he was just as easily aroused in performance of said tasks.  God help him if the day ever comes when he can no longer pleasure this goddess.  He certainly would die. 

They moved slowly against each other, bodies pressed skin on skin.  He had never witnessed a sexier sight in his entire life.  Lucy’s head was tilted back, with her eyes closed, as the snow littered her hair like pieces of confetti, and the steam rose from the water and dripped down her curves.  Part angel, part devil. 

“God, Lucy.  You’re so incredibly sexy.  I love you,” he declared, as he thrusted up into her.

“I love you too,” she answered breathily.

She came with a shudder a few moments later, and he followed suit after a few more thrusts.  Their bodies stayed intertwined, as they gripped each other tightly. 

“Lucy?”

“Uh, huh?”

He wanted to ask her to move in with him.  He wanted to ask her to marry him.  Instead, neither of those questions escaped his lips.  He was terrified she’d say no, and since everything was currently great, he figured he’d maintain the status quo for a little longer.

“I want to go away for New Year’s.  Just the two of us.  Do you think that’s something you might want to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  I believe I already have plans on New Year’s Eve,” she answered.

“You do?  With who?  Doing what?”

“With my boyfriend, dummy.”

“We made plans?  I don’t remember that.”

“No, _we_ didn’t.  _I_ made plans with my other boyfriend.”

_Other boyfriend?  She’s with him all the time, except for when he’s at work.  How is this possible?_

He gazed back at her with a worried and confused expression on his face.

“My other boyfriend is this hot, foreign guy from Croatia, whose accent is so sexy I can’t keep my hands off of him,” she teased, as she placed kisses down his neck.

_Oh.  Oh!_

“What if I agree to learn Croatian and whisper sweet nothings to you in a sexy accent?  Will you ditch the foreigner then?”

“Maybe.  Depends on how good your pronunciation is.”

“Tako si lijepa.  Volim te.  Oženi me.” 

Lucy only knew what volim te meant.  He had said it to her before, and she had asked him about it.  She didn’t really know any other Croatian, and in that moment he was never more thankful.  He just prayed she didn’t ask for the entire translation.  He had no problem translating the first or second part.  He told her every day that she was beautiful, and that he loved her.  The last part, had slipped out of his mouth before he even realized it.  Marry me.  It wasn’t that he hadn’t meant it or wanted it, he definitely did, but he wasn’t prepared.  He hadn’t bought a ring yet, (although he did look when he went Christmas shopping), and if he was going to propose, it would be in the midst of some grand romantic gesture.  Lucy loved when he did things like that.  He had been running through different scenarios in his head about how he wanted to do it.  It’s not like it wasn’t an eventuality.  He just wanted it to be perfect, and all the pieces hadn’t quite fit into the puzzle just yet.

He won’t lie to her if she asks.  He can’t.  He’s never had a reason to before, but the few times he’s joked around, this incredible woman saw right through him.  Instead, he covered up his loose lips with humor.

“How was my pronunciation?  Good enough for you to ditch the other guy?”

She kissed him deeply and slowly, and then trailed kisses to his ear.

“What other guy?” she joked.

He chuckled, as he skimmed his hands along her body.

“Silly man, you’re the only one for me.  Don’t you know that by now?”

A few days later, Jiya drug Lucy Christmas shopping.  She needed to do it, she knew that, but she was having trouble coming up with good ideas for Garcia, and it frustrated her to no end.  This of course, meant they had walked the mall for hours at this point, and all she had come up with were a few new turtlenecks.  He deserved so much more in her eyes, and she wanted to make this Christmas special.  She knew the holidays had been hard on him in the past, but she hoped that this would be the first of many for them, and wanted it to be memorable.

“What about a book?  He likes books,” Lucy suggested.

“Maybe, but you can’t just get him a couple of sweaters and books.  That’s lame, Lucy.”

Lucy huffed loudly, then slouched her shoulders.

“I get it.  I wish he was easy like Rufus.”

“Easy?  You think he’s easy?  Try finding Star Wars collectibles in mint condition without going into debt,” she laughed.

Lucy chuckled.  Okay, so maybe Rufus wasn’t easier to buy for. 

They entered the bookstore, and Jiya laced her arm into Lucy’s and spun her back out the door so fast it almost gave her whiplash.

“What the hell?”

Jiya nodded her head to the left, which is when Lucy finally saw what made her do such an abrupt about-face.  In the corner of the bookstore, stood Emma and Jessica.  _This town is just not big enough sometimes._

“What are they there to buy: _‘How to Be Bitchy and Evil and Still Get What You Want’?”_

Jiya laughed, and started to pull Lucy further from the entrance, when Lucy stopped her.  There, in the front window of the store, was a book that had sparked a brilliant idea (brilliant as far as she was concerned, anyway).

She turned to Jiya, eyes wide with excitement at this newfound epiphany.

“What?  What is it, Lucy?”

“Photography!  He’s loves photography.  I can get him some new fancy lens or something.”

“Much better.  Well, we aren’t going to find any of that in the bookstore, so can we get the hell out of here before we have to deal with bitch and bitchier?”

“Absolutely.  Let’s go.”

“Come on, Emma.  This is boring,” Jessica complained.

“Hold you damn horses, Jess.  I’ve narrowed it down to a couple.  Just another minute.”

Jessica was her best friend, but sometime she was beyond annoying.  Her plan at this point was to try to show Garcia how much better she was for him than Lucy, as well as how she knew him better than Lucy ever could.  She knew he enjoyed books about history, so she decided to buy him a couple for Christmas.  She had to be thoughtful about which book she bought if she wanted to impress Garcia. 

“Emma, let’s go.  I’ve got a date with Wyatt tonight.”

She stood there, a book in each hand, still undecided on which to choose. 

“Abraham Lincoln or Gettysburg?” she asked, as she held both books up.

“Just get them both if you can’t pick.”

Emma huffed and shook her head.  She really couldn’t choose, so what the hell, she’ll just buy the both of them.  Maybe it will impress him even more, and at least it will get Jessica to shut the hell up.

She paid for the books, dropped Jess off at her place, and drove back to the bar.  She figured she’d wrap his gift, and then take it over to him while he was at work.  This way, she didn’t have to worry about Lucy getting in the way. 

She barged through the door, barked a few orders at her employees (it always made her feel better), and skulked back to her office.  She sat down at her desk, plopped down the package of books, and pulled out one of those pre-wrapped Christmas boxes.  She opened it and then placed a little bit of tissue paper inside.  She pulled both books out of the bag, and debated which one should be on top.  It would be the first thing he would see when he opened the package.  She knew Lincoln was Garcia’s favorite president, but Gettysburg is also Lincoln adjacent.

She flipped the Gettysburg book over, and scanned the back cover with its summary and author profile again.  It did sound like it would be a good read, and the author was well-known.  She put that book down, and picked up the Lincoln biography.  She turned it over and almost fell out of her chair.  _You have got to be freaking kidding me._   The face of her arch nemesis, Lucy _Preston_ , stared back at her, with that perfect ten thousand megawatt smile.  She scanned the author’s bio, as the wheels turned in her head.  It seemed fate had given her the best Christmas present of all. 

She placed the Gettysburg book in the box first, right side up, and the Lincoln book on top upside down.  She put the lid back on, and stared down at the perfectly wrapped package.  She needed to remember to thank Jessica later.  If it hadn’t been for her incessant nagging, she probably would’ve only bought the other book.  Now, she had the ammunition of a lifetime, and the opportunity to rid herself of Lucy once and for all. 

She left the bar, and stopped at her place to change.  She didn’t want to go overboard to make him suspicious, so she put on her best pair of jeans, and a black, low-cut shirt that accentuated her cleavage.  She did a check of her hair and makeup, grabbed the package, and made her way back out to her car.  There was no time to waste, after all.

Emma strutted into the police station like she had just solved the crime of the century.  With Garcia’s gift in hand, she strolled passed Wyatt at the front desk, and turned down the hall towards the office, only to be stopped by Lt. Christopher.  “He’s on the phone right now.  You’ll have to wait a minute.  You should’ve waited at the front desk like a normal visitor.”

_I bet Lucy doesn’t have to wait at the stupid front desk._   Annoyed that she had to wait, she reluctantly made small talk with Denise, until Garcia opened his office door. 

“Emma!  What are you doing here?”

“May I?” she asked, as she pointed to his office.

He waved his hand towards the door, and she entered his office, package down by her side.  He closed the office door behind him, and she sat in the chair that faced his desk, as he sat as well.  

“I just came to drop this off,” she said, as she handed him the present.

“What’s this?”

“Just a little Christmas present.”

“I-uh, thank you?”

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Wyatt stuck his head in a second later.

“Chief, sorry to bother you, but we’ve kind of got a little bit of a situation out there.”

“Alright,” he replied, as he stood up. 

He opened a drawer in his desk, and placed the present inside before he closed it.

“Sorry, Emma.  Duty calls.”

He ushered her out of his office, and moved as quickly as he possibly could to the front desk area.  Two suspects were going at it, and Denise and another officer had subdued them.  Emma slipped by them, as Wyatt practically shoved her out the door. 

_Not a total loss.  He’ll see it later.  It’s only a matter of time now_. 

After Flynn and Denise dealt with the two drunken idiots that decided to use each other’s faces as their sparring partner, he went back to his office and checked his cell.  Lucy had texted him that she was back at the inn, done with her shopping excursion for the day. 

He finished up the paperwork involved with said drunken idiots, grabbed his jacket, and headed out to the inn.  He needed to see Lucy.  He’d missed her all day. 

He entered the kitchen door, greeted his mother, and then asked if Lucy was upstairs.  Maria thought she was in the laundry room, so he checked there first.  The room was empty. 

His phone dinged, and he gazed down to see another text from Lucy.

_I need your help with something.  Can you come up?-Lucy_

_Be right up.  I’m downstairs-Garcia_

He climbed the stairs in three strides, and knocked on her door.  No answer.  He knocked again, and heard his phone ding.

_Door’s open-Lucy_

He opened the door, and his eyes flashed around the room.  Candles were strewn about, and painted the room in a romantic glow.

“Lucy?”

He saw the bathroom light on, and it’s not like her room was that big.  He sat on the couch, and put the TV on. 

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened, and Lucy stuck her head out.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I have an early Christmas present for you.  Turn the TV off, and close your eyes.  No peeking,” Lucy instructed.

He shut the TV off, turned half-way in his seat towards the bathroom, and shut his eyes.

“Why am I getting an early Christmas present?”

“Because if you don’t like it, I-I’m not sure I’ll be able to take it back.”

_What the hell did she buy him?  Can’t you take pretty much anything back?_  

He heard a strange sound, as she walked towards him.  His brain sorted through a catalog in his mind of what she bought.  He couldn’t place the sound, so he grew more anxious by the second.

“Can I open my eyes yet?”

“One second.”

Her voice came from behind him now, and he heard her sit or lay on the bed. 

“Garcia, I want you to listen very, _very_ carefully.  You can open your eyes when I tell you, _but_ you need to turn around slowly.”

“ _Why?”_

“Because I said so!”

He laughed at her annoyance, but composed himself a moment later.

“Okay, you may open your eyes and turn around slowly now.”

He did as instructed, lest Lucy throw more than a pillow at his face, and had never been more thankful he was already in a sitting position.  Lucy was sprawled out on the bed, with a red Santa hat on her head, and garland wrapped around her breasts and nether regions.  There was nothing else but skin, and his jaw dropped to the floor. 

“The bow thing just wasn’t working for me, so I hope you like this instead,” she teased.

Some unintelligible sound escaped his throat, but his eyes never left her once. 

“Do you like your present?  It’s what you _wanted_ , right?”

He nodded.  Words were useless right now.  He had only been kidding when he said he only wanted her for Christmas (well sort of).  Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined Lucy actually making herself a present.

“Do you want to unwrap it?”

He nodded again, as he took a step towards the bed.  She crooked her finger at him, and he followed like a rat under the spell of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.  Lucy went to remove the Santa hat, but he shook his head. 

“Leave it on,” he whispered, as he kissed her softly.

_What a way to go, because she’s definitely going to kill him tonight_.  _It doesn’t matter though, because this is the best present ever._

 


	14. Shattered Hearts & Minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s 5 days before Christmas, and all through the town, an evil redhead is plotting, to take Lucy down. Lucy and Jiya dream about weddings, while Flynn faces the fear he’s always been dreading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grab your tissues now.

**_December 20 th _ **

Seven days.  Emma had waited an entire week, and Lucy was still here.  _Doesn’t he have some sort of ethical obligation to inform her who she really is?_   _Could it even be possible that he would purposefully hide it from her for plain selfish reasons?  Is he that in love with her?_  

She’s done with waiting.  With some internet sleuthing, she was able to find a Facebook page for “Dr. Lucy Preston.”  Most of the page was private, but it did list her in Palo Alto, California.  She did a quick search and found an Amy Preston from the same city.  She had a lot more on her page for Emma to snoop through. 

With not much else left to lose, Emma sent this Amy Preston a message that she had information on her sister.  Amy responded a few minutes later, and Emma could tell the woman tried to be optimistic, yet cautious.  _Lord knows how many weirdos probably claimed they saw her and didn’t._  

She finally told Amy to call the local police station, since they would be able to confirm everything she’d just said.  Amy thanked her, and advised she’d do just that. 

_Finally!  Movement._  

Lucy and Jiya had just finished setting up the tables for tonight’s festivities at the inn.  They had Christmas cookies and hot chocolate, s’mores and candy canes.  Maria had also arranged for a group of old-time carolers to perform.  She hosted her open house every year, and lots of people gathered at the inn to catch up and enjoy one last Christmas festivity as a town, before they celebrated privately with their own families.

Lucy wore her white pea coat and white beret, while Jiya sported her blue parka and pompom hat. They would be responsible for the snack station, while Maria greeted and mingled with her guests.

Garcia pulled Lucy aside from the table, and held her hands in his.

“I’ve got to go to the station for a little bit, but I’ll be back, okay?” he asked, as he kissed her forehead.

“I love you,” Lucy lilted.

“Love you more,” he replied, as he strolled back to his car.

Lucy shook her head, and walked back over to the table.

“You two are seriously disgusting.  You know that right?” Jiya asked.

Lucy gave her a “you’re-one-to-talk-look”, and Jiya giggled.

“So, you wanna take a bet on which one of us gets a ring first?” Jiya questioned. “I’m betting on you, just in case you’re wondering.”

“Jiya!” Lucy hissed, as she threw a candy cane at her.

“A ring by spring, I predict.”

“I don’t know.  We haven’t even been dating for an entire year.  We’ve never talked about it either.  Maybe, he’ll want to wait-which is okay with me.”

“Really?  You mean to tell me you’ve never once pictured yourself as Mrs. Flynn?”

“Maybe once…”

“Once?”

“Okay, maybe more than once.”

“You guys will be married for like ten years before Rufus ever gets the courage to ask me.”

“Then, maybe you need to ask him,” Lucy suggested.

“Yeah, maybe…”

About two hours later, the open house was winding down, and Lucy and Jiya started to clean up a little bit.  There were only a few s’mores and some hot chocolate left, so they moved them to one end of the table and cleaned the other side.

Lucy was glad to be almost done.  Garcia should be back soon (she hoped), and then they could go to his place, open a bottle of wine, and cuddle by the fire.

Suddenly, she heard her name being called, but she didn’t recognize the voice.

“Lucy!”

She turned around and stared at an older, blonde-haired woman.  A stabbing pain shot through her head, and she grabbed it with both hands.  A tsunami of thoughts and memories flooded her mind, and left her battered like she’d been dragged by the tide and smashed against the rocks.  She opened her eyes, and stared at the woman again.

“Mom?”

As Flynn left the station, he continued to psych himself up for the conversation he was about to have with Lucy.  There was no more room to chicken out, he needed to do this.  His house had never felt more like a home, and it was all because Lucy was there.  He needed her to be there all the time.  It was vital to him to know she’d be there when he got home from work, as well as when he woke in the morning. Plus, half of her stuff was already there, so it shouldn’t take her long to bring the rest of it over.  Then, they could begin their future together.

As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed the open house seemed to be almost over, although there were a good number of people left.  He exited his car, and wandered towards the front of the inn.  As he turned the corner, he saw an older woman hug Lucy, as tears streamed down her face.  He didn’t recognize her (not that he knows everyone in this town, but close enough).  _Maybe it’s a guest that took a liking to Lucy.  It happens all the time now, and he can’t blame any of them._   The woman continued to hug her and touch Lucy’s face.  _Guests don’t do that._

There was also a young woman and man that stood behind this woman, both with tears in their eyes.  The young woman hugged Lucy next and did not let go.  Lucy hugged this woman back, and suddenly his heart sank.  He knew what this was.  Somehow, Lucy’s family had finally found her. 

He stopped dead in his tracks, unable to compel his feet to move any further.  His eyes flashed to the man with them, as he sized up his potential competition.  _Maybe, it’s her brother?_   He eyed the man’s face again, but didn’t see any resemblance to Lucy.  _Maybe, her brother-in-law?_   He was grasping at straws at this point and he knew it. 

Once the young woman pulled back from Lucy, he was able to see the family resemblance between the two.  His breath stopped, as the man stepped towards Lucy.  He wore a huge smile on his face, as the tears of joy flowed freely.  He leaned in and gave her a hug, but when he pulled back, he hadn’t removed his hands from her arms.  Instead, he caressed her arms in a way that was much too intimate for Flynn’s liking. 

Lucy suddenly jerked back and separated herself.  The expression on her face was one of utter confusion.  _He knew, he’d seen it before; she doesn’t remember._   He was too far away to hear their exact conversation, but the man pulled out his phone and showed Lucy photos.  _Oh, no, she’s going to remember him._  

Lucy handed the phone back to him, as she shook her head.  _She still doesn’t remember._   He exhaled finally.  The women hugged Lucy again, and then they all looked at the man.  The older woman seemed to be explaining something to Lucy, as the man looked expectantly at her.  Lucy shook her head again, as her eyes grew wide with panic.

He wanted to run to her and gather her in his arms so badly.  Her head spun from left to right, and then their eyes locked.  Horrified: that’s the only way he could describe Lucy’s appearance.  He imagined his own expression wasn’t much better.  Her attention was occupied once again, as the man took her left hand in his.  Flynn watched in horror, as the man removed a ring from a box and slipped it onto Lucy’s finger and kissed her.  He felt like he was stuck in a nightmare he was so frozen with fear.  _She’s engaged._   _Engaged!_  

He felt like the world was caving in around him, the ground no longer stable.  His heart raced and his chest tightened, and he straight up panicked.  He retreated as fast as he could back to his car, and backed out of the driveway.  He needed to clear his head and process the fact that his entire world just crashed down, because he was about to lose the love of his life.  He’s about to lose his light, his Lucy.

_Mom._   The words came out of Lucy’s mouth before her brain course corrected.  As soon as she saw her, she knew _and_ she remembered.  Her mother cried, and she cried, and they hugged each other tightly.  Her mom touched her cheeks, and stared into her eyes like she had just found the greatest lost treasure.

“Lucy, oh thank god.  We have been looking everywhere for you.”

“We?”

Her mother stepped to the side, and a young woman with brown hair came into focus.  She only needed one glance at her to remember who she was.

“Amy!”

Her sister squeezed her so hard, Lucy thought she might have broken a rib. 

“I knew you were still alive.  I just knew it.  I never gave up looking for you, Luce.”

As her sister slid to the side, a tall, dark-haired man moved towards her.  He obviously had a connection to her, since he cried and smiled just like her mother and sister, but she didn’t remember him.  She stared at him long and hard, and tried her best to place the face or remember anything, but nothing came.

He leaned in and gave her a hug, but when he pulled back, he didn’t remove his hands from her arms.  She didn’t want to be rude, but it felt weird and foreign to her.  It wasn’t Garcia’s touch, which was the only touch she wanted and craved.  When he started to caress her arms lovingly, she freaked and jerked back from him.

“Lucy.  Lucy, it’s me, Noah.  Don’t you remember me?”

She just shook her head.  _Should she?_

He grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket, opened his photo gallery and handed it to her.

“I’m your boyfriend.  See?  We’ve been together for the last three years.”

She flipped through the photos on the phone, but nothing came back to her.  Nothing at all.  There were vacation and birthday, as well as casual photos on the phone.  _Still nothing._  

She shook her head and handed the phone back to him.

“I’m sorry.  Noah, was it?  I don’t remember you at all.”

Her mom and sister mauled her again and her mother pointed to Noah.

“Come on, Lucy.  It’s Noah.  How can you remember us but not your fiancé?” her mother questioned.

She shook her head, as the panic spread within.

“My, _what_ now?”

Lucy searched around her for a friendly face.  When she turned to the left, she saw Jiya, who appeared to be just as confused as she felt.  When she turned to the right, she saw Garcia.  _Oh, God.  How in the hell is she supposed to explain all this to him?_

She knew he could tell she was distressed by the way he stared back at her.  He appeared just as shocked as she was.  It’s not like she didn’t want to introduce him to her family.  _But, how the hell is she supposed to introduce Noah?_   _Garcia, this is my fiancé, Noah.  Noah, this is my practically live-in boyfriend, Garcia._   _Yeah, that’ll go over well._

The next thing she knew, Noah grabbed her left hand, and pulled a box out of his jacket.  He opened the box and this massive, princess-cut diamond stared back at her for a split second, before it was on her finger.  _She really had wished for a proposal, but this was not what she had in mind._   She was still too shell-shocked from the rock on her hand to have stopped Noah, as he leaned in and kissed her.  Lucy broke the kiss and pulled back, with a _very_ pissed off look on her face.

“Whoa!  What are you doing?”

Noah swallowed, took a deep breath, and then reached for her hand. 

“Lucy, I love you.  We belong together.  I’m sure you’ll remember soon.  You remembered your mother and sister.”

“I-I…”

Amy jumped in between them, and pulled Lucy by the hand towards the inn.

“So, this is where you work, huh?”

“You work _here_?” her mother’s voice asked in her normal tone of disapproval.

“I work _and_ I live here,” Lucy responded proudly.

Her mother ignored her as usual.  “Oh, Lucy, darling.  I can’t imagine how scared and lonely you must have been.  The police officer explained that you were in an accident and had amnesia.”

“Yeah, I was.  What police officer?” she asked curiously. 

_Was that why Garcia had that expression of horror?  Was it him that got the call?_   She panicked again when she remembered Garcia.  She turned to glance back at where she saw him, but he was gone.  _Oh, no. No, no, no, no, NO!_

“Amy, what was that officer’s name you spoke with?”

“Logan, I think?”

“That’s how you found me?  Wyatt called you?” Lucy asked incredulously.

“No.  A woman contacted Amy on Facebook and said she saw you.”

“Someone from here?”

“Yeah, her name was Emma.  In fact, she’s right over there,” Amy informed her as she waved.

_Of course._   _Where the hell did she come from anyway? She’s wasn’t here a minute ago?  Maybe she really was the devil._

“Lucy, it’s the most insane story.  She bought a book for Christmas, turned it over and recognized the author as the woman working at the local inn.  So, she sent me a message on my Facebook page.”

“Is that how she referred to me, ‘the woman who worked at the local inn’?”

Amy stared back at her strangely and nodded her head.

“Emma and I don’t exactly like each other very much,” Lucy explained.

_However, she had managed to reunite her with her family, so she should be gracious about this and thank her._  

“I’ll be right back,” Lucy said to her sister, as she crossed the lawn towards Emma. 

Emma wore a self-satisfied smirk, but she didn’t gloat as bad as Lucy thought she would.

“Emma, I hear you’re the one who was responsible for my reunion with my family.  I just wanted to say thank you.”

“You deserved to know who you were, and that you had family out there worried about you.”

Lucy turned to walk back to her family, when Emma continued to speak.

“I was surprised Garcia hadn’t told you sooner.”

_Don’t take the bait._ Lucy slowly turned on her heels.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Emma.”

“The book-your book.  I gave it to Garcia as a Christmas present.  He’s had it for like a week or so now.”

“What?  I don’t believe you.”

Lucy turned back around.

“I understand why you wouldn’t.  I saw him put it in his desk drawer after I gave it to him.  It might even still be there.”

Lucy froze, and whirled back around on Emma to give her a piece of her mind, but when she did, Emma was already gone.

_Could he really have known and never told her?_ She had to know.  She marched back across the lawn, introduced Jiya to her family briefly, and then pulled her aside.

“Lucy, what’s wrong?  What is it?”

“I-I need to find out if something Emma said is true.  Can I borrow your car?”

“Sure, but-what about your family?”

“Can you occupy them for a minute?  I won’t be long, but I need to do this.”

Jiya agreed, reached into her pocket, and handed Lucy her keys.

“Thanks.  I owe you.”

Lucy ran to the driveway.  She heard the protestations screamed behind her.  This would eat her alive until she found out, so she charged ahead, got in Jiya’s car and sped off towards the police station.

Flynn must have driven up and down Coastal Avenue twelve times.  He could not believe this was happening.  Somehow, after all this time, her family happened to finally show up.  But, he hadn’t spoken to Lucy.  _Could there be any chance she’d want to stay with him?  Or, can he go with her?_   She hadn’t seemed thrilled when her fiancé slid the ring on her finger and kissed her. 

He wanted and needed to see Lucy, yet he didn’t want to see Lucy.  He knew her too well.  _She’ll do the right thing and go back to the other guy, because she made a promise to marry him.  Does he really need her to say it to his face?  Can he bear hearing the words come out of her mouth?_  

He couldn’t hide in his car all night.  He couldn’t be a coward.  He took a deep breath and drove to the inn.  When he came into the kitchen it was empty, but he heard voices from the living room.  He took another deep breath and made his way to the living room, where he found his mother and Jiya, with Lucy’s family and fiancé. 

“Oh, Carol, Amy, Noah, this is my son, Garcia.  Garcia, this is Lucy’s family and-”

“Where’s Lucy?”

“I thought she went to the police station to find you.  You didn’t see her?”

He shook his head.  He definitely noticed the stink eye Noah gave him.  It had a hint of possessiveness in it, which only served to anger him.  _Lucy is not a possession.  She might be his girlfriend and this guy’s fiancée, but she’s not a possession._   Sure, he’d be pissed if he thought another man tried to put the moves on her, but Noah didn’t know _for a fact_ that there was something between the two of them.  He knew he was being rude to Lucy’s family, but he couldn’t worry about that right now.  This was beyond awkward, and he just needed to speak to Lucy, alone. 

Lucy flew into the police station, as if she owned the damn place.  She paraded passed the officer at the front desk, and completed ignored whatever warning or prohibition he offered.  Tunnel vision ensued, as she continued her maddening march towards Garcia’s office.  As she turned the corner from the squad room to the offices, her shoulder slammed into someone.

“Whoa!  Lucy!  Where’s the fire?” Wyatt asked, as he reached for her arm.

“Wyatt, get the _hell_ out of my way!”

She shoved him out of her way, which caused him to bang against the door to the office across the hall.  She flung Garcia’s office door open, and stomped over to the desk.  She jerked open every drawer she could, until she saw it.  In the middle desk drawer, there was a Christmas gift.  Lucy picked the package up, as Wyatt _and_ Denise appeared at the door. 

“Lucy, what do you think you’re doing?” Denise questioned authoritatively.

She ignored her, ripped the lid off the package, and carelessly tossed it onto the desk.  A book with her picture on it stared back at her. 

“For once, Emma didn’t lie.”

_Or did she?  She could have planted this._ She gripped the book with white-knuckled resolve.

“Lucy, what did she give the chief for Christmas that has you so upset?” Denise asked.

Lucy turned slowly on her heel, book in hand.

“Lucy, is that you?”

She nodded her head in response.  Her body and voice trembled.  “You-you saw Emma give this to Garcia?”

“Yes.  I stopped her in the hallway because he was on an important phone call at the time.  She did have a Christmas present in her hand, but I don’t really remember if that’s it or not,” Denise responded.

“When was that?”

She was afraid to ask, but she had to know the truth. 

“Like a week ago, maybe?” Wyatt answered with a shrug of his shoulders.  “I had to escort her out of here because two drunken idiots decided to beat the crap out of each other in the lobby.”

Lucy put her hand over her mouth.  She felt sick, betrayed in the worst possible way.  _He knew who she was, and he kept it from her?_ She never thought he could be capable of something like that.  Not the man _she_ knew.  Not the man she loved.  She clutched the book to her chest, as her eyes filled with tears.  She grabbed the lid, smooshed the book back into the package, and tucked it under her arm. 

“I’m sorry.  I need to leave.”

Lucy wedged her way between them back out into the hallway.

“Lucy?  Are you okay?” Denise asked.

“No.  I am _not._   Denise, thank you for everything that you’ve done for me.  Wyatt, it’s been nice knowing you.  It’s time for me to go back where I belong; back to the people I belong with.”

She hurried down the hallway, ran through the squad room, and back out the front door.  Her chest felt like an elephant was on top of her.  She couldn’t breathe, and she grew more nauseated by the minute. 

She arrived back at the inn a few minutes later.  As she exited the car and walked towards the kitchen door, she saw Garcia.  He paced back and forth by the door, like a tiger stuck in too small of a cage.

When he saw her, he called out, “Lucy!”

The tears she had managed to hold back as she drove, fell from her face.  He moved to her and tried to pull her into an embrace, when she pushed him away.

“Don’t-don’t touch me!”

Confusion and pain spread across his face, as if she had literally just stabbed him in the heart.

“Lucy, what-what did I do wrong?”

“Are you serious?  What-what did you do wrong?  How about keeping my identity and my family from me.  I can’t believe you did that!”

“What?  How could I have?”

She grabbed the package from under her left arm, removed the lid, and hurled it at his feet.  The book landed with such a loud thud, Maria opened the kitchen door to check what was going on.

“Everything okay out here?” Maria questioned, as she glanced back and forth between her son and Lucy. 

Garcia couldn’t even meet his mother’s eyes in order to respond. 

“No, Maria, everything is far from fine.”

She stormed passed her through the kitchen door and into the inn.  She felt a presence behind her, and knew that meant Garcia followed her.  She hurried down the hallway towards the living room, as the torrent of tears streamed down her cheeks.  She didn’t stop when she got there.  Instead, she ran up the stairs.  Jiya and her family stood up from the couch, only to be dumbstruck when a Lucy-sized blur flew by, followed by a Flynn-sized one.  He yelled her name a few times, but she didn’t turn around.  She had almost reached the door to her room, when he overtook her and stood directly in front of it. 

“Move!”

“Not until you talk to me.  Please, Lucy.”

“Move!”

“Lucy, please, I-I didn’t know.”

He moved towards her hesitantly, and tried to take her hand in his.  She seized her window of opportunity, ducked under his arm and maneuvered around him to the door.  She managed to open it, but his arm blocked her when she tried to slam it shut. 

She refused to look at him.  She was so mad, she was surprised she wasn’t actively emitting steam from her nostrils.  She grabbed the duffel bag she had (it was the only thing she had that she could put her stuff in), and blindly started throwing her clothes and shoes into it.

“Lucy, you have to know I would never do anything that would hurt you.  I _love_ you,” he pleaded.

“Love me?  Love me?  You don’t hide important things from people you love.  You love Lucy Doe, not Lucy Preston.”

She zipped up her bag and glanced around the room.  She’d have to get Jiya or Maria to send her the rest of her stuff, or just donate it to charity or something.  It wasn’t _really_ her stuff anyway.  Her stuff was back home in Palo Alto.  She turned to leave, and slammed right into Garcia’s chest.

He felt like he was being slowly, painfully, tortured to death.  He’d been shot before, a few times actually, and he knew the agony that bullets caused when they tore through flesh.  This was a thousand times more harrowing than that.  Lucy wouldn’t let him explain, she wouldn’t look at him, or let him touch her.  He’d forgotten all about that present Emma gave him.  He never opened it.  He didn’t know.  The fact that she’d even think…

He closed the space between them as quietly as he could, and when she turned around, she whacked right into him.  He grabbed her arms just below her shoulders.  He exerted a little more pressure than he intended, so he quickly loosened his grip. 

“Damn it, Lucy!  _Look at me!_ ”

“Get your hands off of her!” a voice yelled from behind him.

He didn’t need to turn around.  He knew it was him.  He could snap him like a twig if he really wanted to, but he couldn’t risk upsetting Lucy any further.  He ignored him, and Lucy finally met his eyes.

“I didn’t do it.  I love you, Lucy.  We can figure this out, but you need to talk to me.”

He sensed Noah’s presence behind him.  He had no idea what Noah was capable of doing, and as risky as it was to have his back to him, he didn’t let go of Lucy.  He couldn’t let go of Lucy. 

The next thing he knew, a hand gripped his shoulder.  If he wanted to be a real dick about this, he’d haul his ass down to the station and charge him with assaulting an officer.  Since _that_ would only make matters worse, he decided it was best to give the guy a warning.

“What do you do for a living, pal?”

“What?”

“Lucy, what does he do?”

“I-I don’t know.  I don’t remember.”

The question seemed to throw both Lucy and Noah off, but for different reasons altogether.  _She doesn’t remember him, which means she doesn’t love him._

“I’m a cardio-thoracic surgeon.”

_A doctor: figures._

“Well, doc, if you want to keep your surgical practice intact, you’ll remove your hand before you lose it.  You don’t want to test me.  If you don’t believe me, ask Lucy.”

Lucy’s gaze traveled passed him, and she nodded her head.  Noah removed his hand a second later.

“Look, I get it.  It’s impossible not to fall in love with Lucy.  But, we’ve been together for three years and we’re engaged.  You’ve been with her for what, three months tops?  Don’t make this harder on yourself.”

He ignored him again, and tilted Lucy’s chin back up so she had to look at him. 

“If you can look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me, I’ll let you leave.  No muss, no fuss.”

Lucy stared back, her eyes still watery and red, but she didn’t answer him.  She wiggled out of his grip, picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and walked over to Noah.  He promptly put his arm around her.  _He’s claiming her._  

“Goodbye, Garcia.”

He’d get on his knees and beg her, but he won’t give this asshole the satisfaction of witnessing him grovel.  They turned, strolled down the hallway, and then went down the stairs.  As soon as she was out of sight, his legs wobbled and buckled, and he fell to his knees.  Silent tears streamed down his face, and he had never felt more broken in his life, except maybe when he lost Lorena and Iris.  Now, he had lost another woman he loved, and there was once again nothing he could do about it.

He heard the front door shut a few minutes later.  His legs had no strength, but he managed to pull himself over to the side window that overlooked the driveway.  He stared out the window, as Lucy and her family got in the car.  Just before she did, she peered back at the inn.  He wondered if she saw him in the window; if she saw how heartbroken he was; if she saw the aftermath of devastation and ruin she left in her wake.  He watched as the car veered down the driveway and out of sight, as it took the love of his life away for good.

 


	15. Pictures of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Flynn feel the fallout of their breakup. Lucy finds out some important information about her relationship with Noah. Rufus tries to whip Flynn into shape. A reconciliation occurs and futures are set.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this was supposed to be the last chapter, but I've decided (with a suggestion from the lovely startrekkingaroundasgard, as well as my own reluctance to end this fic, and the fact I made people cry in the last chapter), that I'd give you a little more fluff at the end. At least one more to come!

Lucy remained quiet on the long drive home.  She responded to the questions her mother, sister and Noah had, although she had a sinking suspicion Noah would have a lot more later on when they were alone.  Her anger had subsided, and morphed into utter heartache.  She stared out the window, as she tried to grapple with everything that had happened.  She still loved Garcia, but as the song goes, sometimes love just ain’t enough.  It’s not something you can just turn off like a spigot.  It’s going to take time to get over him and his betrayal. 

She was glad to have gotten _most_ of her memories back though.  It was strange to say the least, that she remembered almost everything, except Noah.  She had no idea what she would do about him.  Maybe, she’d remember, they’d get married like they planned, and live a happy life.  Maybe, she would never remember, but if she fell in love with him once, who’s to say it can’t happen again?  Maybe, she’d break up with him.  Whatever she decided, she knew one thing for sure: it wouldn’t have anything to do with Garcia Flynn.

The way he looked at her before she left, broke something inside.  The way his hands trembled as he held her, his face twisted in agony, and his eyes were red and tear-stained, made her want to pull him into her arms, and tell him it would all be okay.  _But how could it be?_ His betrayal was so selfish, so devious, and so not like the man she fell in love with.  He deluded her, so why has she not been able to stop thinking about him?

It felt good to sleep in her own bed, though sleep just would not come.  She laid awake, flat on her back, and stared aimlessly at the ceiling.  She regained her family, her memories (most of them), and her life, but the empty void in her heart now matched the empty space next to her.  It had been a while since Lucy had slept alone; so much so, that she stayed on the right side the entire night.  It was a huge bed and she probably would’ve been much more comfortable in the middle, but she couldn’t do it. 

She doesn’t remember when sleep finally came, she just knew it was after she cried for quite some time.  She was conflicted.  It felt as if she was being torn in two; one half clearly wanting to stay in Oregon, and the other desperate to get back home.  _Funny, it didn’t feel like home anymore._  

Her mother hovered over her the entire next day, and Amy and Noah were also staying close, but it was nowhere near the level of helicoptering she endured from her mother.  At one point, she got so annoyed, she went up to the bathroom, locked the door, and drew herself a nice, hot, relaxing bath.  It was the worst mistake she could’ve made, because all she could think about was making love with Garcia in the hot tub. 

She washed up quickly, and scampered out of the tub.  She really just wanted to talk to Amy, but her mother and Noah insisted on trying to jog her memory.  Noah kept showing her photos of them on his phone, but nothing came back to her. 

“Lucy, seriously?  You don’t remember any of this?  We took this trip to Mexico for our year anniversary.”

Lucy flipped through the pictures.

“Why am I only in a few of these, if we took this trip together?”

“You got sick.  Montezuma’s revenge or something.  You told me to just go enjoy myself.  What was I supposed to do, sit there and rub your back the entire time?” he laughed.

_Garcia would’ve_ , her unhelpful brain reminded her.  _In fact, he did do that.  She had the flu and was contagious, and he still did it._

“Oh.”

It’s all she could say, as she handed him back his phone, which promptly buzzed a second later.  He looked at it, then frowned.

“It’s the hospital.  I have to go, Lucy, but I’ll call you later, okay?”

She shook her head in agreement, then he leaned in and kissed her.  She tried to kiss him back, but it felt wrong.  The whole thing just felt _wrong._

He couldn’t go near the inn, and he couldn’t stay at his own house.  Everywhere he looked, there were constant reminders of Lucy.  _Everywhere_.  The presents under the tree, the stockings with their names on them, the tree they decorated, the bed they slept in together, were all just daily reminders of the agony of his loss. 

The second Lucy left the inn, he went back to his place, grabbed his best bottle of Scotch, and went down to the marina.  The boat was in dry dock for the winter, but he climbed aboard and drank himself into a physical state of misery, in an effort to match his mental one.  He threw things around the cabin in anger, he cried, he sat and stared at the walls.  Nothing helped.  Nothing at all.  His heart had been slowly ripped out of his chest, and he’d been left with a gaping, bloody wound in its place.  His life was meaningless without Lucy.  All he had was his mother, and a job that he took for its stability.  He’d give everything up just to be with Lucy though.  He loved Lucy, he needed Lucy, and Lucy was gone.  Gone, and never coming back.  Gone, and in the arms of another man, another man who doesn’t deserve her.  Not like he did either, but he’d hoped…

His mother and Jiya had tried to talk sense into him.  He just wanted to be alone, and wallow in his misery.  Eventually, after ignoring them for two days, Jiya sent Rufus to track him down.  When Rufus made a comment about the state of his cabin and appearance, Flynn asked him how he’d feel if Jiya left him for another man.

“Okay, you have a point.  Chief, you gotta snap out of this.  This is no good.  How much have you drank?”

“Not enough to forget Lucy.”

“Alright man, let’s go.  Get up.  Your mother is going to kill me if I don’t drag you back for dinner.  She made chili for you.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Really?  I can hear your stomach from across the cabin.  When’s the last time you ate something…or showered…or shaved?”

“Don’t care,” he answered, as he threw an empty beer can at him.

“Hey!  Chief!  Come on now.  You can’t just get drunk and pine for a woman all the time.”

“The fuck I can’t.  Watch me.  Get the hell out!”

“Um…”

“Rufus.  Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

“Chief, I can’t go home if I don’t bring you back.”

“Here,” Flynn slurred, as he tossed Rufus a set of keys, “Sleep at my house then.  It’s empty.  Empty.”

He opened the half-depleted bottle of whiskey on the coffee table in front of him, and took a huge swig.

“I don’t want to sleep at your house!  I want to sleep in my own bed with my damn girlfriend!  _And,_ until you get your smelly, scruffy, drunk ass into a shower, and get your depressed butt up to see your mother, I can’t do that!  I _am_ going to do that Chief, one way or the other.”

Rufus stepped towards him with a puffed out chest, and Flynn only raised an eyebrow in response.

“Am I supposed to be worried that you’ll hurt me?” he asked sarcastically.

“You’re such a dick sometimes, you know that?”

He sensed Rufus was not about to give up the ghost on this one, and it was probably better to get his mother’s lecture over and done with, so he begrudgingly staggered from the couch to the small bathroom off to the side.  He showered, but didn’t shave, and was only marginally more sober. 

Rufus drove him back up to the inn, and he almost lost it completely when he walked into the kitchen.  He was about to ask his Mom if Lucy was up yet.  Lucy.  Her loss was a crushing weight on his heart, a mortal blow to his very being.  He did not know how he would live without her.  _So far, he had done a bang up job of that._

Maria thanked Rufus profusely, and he practically sprinted out the door a moment later.  The inn was relatively quiet, and she gestured for him to take a seat at the kitchen table.  He slumped into the chair, and she stuck a hot mug of fresh coffee in front of him. 

“Drink,” she ordered.

He grumbled incoherently under his breath, but eventually took the mug and sipped. 

“You look like something an alley cat drug through a sewer.”

“I don’t think that’s quite the expression.”

Maria slapped the back of his head with her hand, and then sat down next to him. 

“Don’t be a smart ass.  Now, what are you planning to do about Lucy?”

He just shook his head, as his eyes filled with tears. 

“Garcia, you have to do something.  I’ve never seen two people more in love than you and Lucy.”

“She chose him, what do you want me to do?”

“She didn’t choose him.  She chose responsibility and to honor a prior commitment.  A commitment, mind you, she doesn’t even remember making.”

Maria cupped her son’s cheeks with her hands.  “Go down to California and fight for her.  Tell her how you feel.  Tell her you’re sorry.  Tell her whatever she needs to make this right.”

“I-I can’t.  She hates me.  I told her how I felt.  I told her I didn’t know.  She still left.”

Maria pulled him into her arms, as the tears came faster now.  He felt a semblance of comfort in his mother’s arms.  It was the only thing he had left.

**_December 24 th _ **

Lucy stood in her bedroom, and stared at herself in the mirror.  She had on her favorite red wrap dress, and the new diamond necklace that Noah had bought her.  Tonight was her mother’s annual Christmas party, and the house would be filled with a few distant relatives, her mother’s colleagues, and some of Noah’s as well.

She’d been home for days now, but she still felt like a stranger in her own life.  She tried to be patient and give Noah a chance, but when he kissed her there was nothing there.  No fireworks or sparks between them at all (at least on her end). 

She left her room, descended the stairs, and joined the party already in full swing.  She put on the mask of a happy smile and made the rounds, escorted by either her mother or Noah.  She had never felt more like arm candy in her life.  Half of his colleagues only cared to know about her becoming a doctor’s wife, not about her love of history, teaching at Stanford, etc. 

She wandered around the house for a bit, and then snuck out the back onto the deck.  Truth be told, she was miserable.  She lost a part of her when she came back.  She had been so happy before, and she desperately wanted to feel that again. 

Suddenly, she heard someone exit the door behind her.  She turned to see Amy, who proceeded to grab her arm, drag her back inside, and up to her bedroom.

“Ames, what are you doing?”

“Something is up with you.  So, I thought maybe opening a few presents early might cheer you up.  Here,” Amy said, as she handed her a small package wrapped in paper with shiny red ornaments on it.

Lucy took the package from her, sat down on her bed and opened it.  She pulled out a gold necklace with a locket.  Inside, was a picture of her and Amy.

“Ames!  I love it!  I’ll never take it off.”

“Well, I don’t know about that Luce.  Your Egyptian hieroglyph necklace _did_ help you figure out your name because you didn’t take it off.”

“True,” she chuckled.

“Here, open this one too,” Amy said, as she handed her another package.

This one was wrapped in different paper: green, goofy-looking reindeers.  She tore the paper open, and found a hard-bound photo album.  She opened the book and thumbed through the pages, as her mouth dropped open.  The entire book had pictures of her throughout her time in Oregon.  It was filled with all the pictures he took, even the ones she didn’t know he took.  There were pictures of her on the boat with the sea otter in her raincoat, the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins with the kids, Thanksgiving, and cutting down the Christmas tree.  There were a few of her and Garcia together as a couple, holding each other or kissing each other.  In every picture, she beamed with happiness.  _Every, single, one._  

“What is it?” Amy questioned.

Lucy turned and handed the book to Amy, as a single tear dropped down her cheek.

“Garcia made it for me.”

Amy leafed through the photo book, eyes wide with excitement. 

“Luce, is this you cutting down a tree with a hand saw?  Oh my gosh.  You look so cute.”

“I look happy,” Lucy muttered.

“You do look happy, Luce.  And, to be honest, I haven’t seen that look since you’ve been back.  You want to go back, don’t you?”

Lucy’s mind raced for a solution to this dilemma.  Amy was correct, she wanted to go back.  She did love and miss her sister, as well as teaching, but she missed Garcia more.  She missed being held in his arms, the safety they brought, the love they brought.  She missed how he gazed at her with his sparkling green eyes, like she was the most beautiful woman in the entire world.  She missed the way he kissed her, touched her, made love to her.  She missed how good they were for each other, the way they seemed to fit perfectly, complementary even. 

“I can’t go back, Ames.  Not after what he did.  He-he…”

“He was terrified to lose you.  It’s obvious he’s head-over-heels for you.”

Lucy just shook her head.

“Lucy, anyone with eyes can see how he looks at you.  And, no offense, but I’ve never seen Noah look at you like that once.  I mean, we’ve been up here for a while.  Has he even noticed you’re missing?”

“I-I-I need some air,” she answered, as she brusquely stood up and walked to the door.

“Luce, just know I _will_ support whatever you decide.  It’s your life, not Mom’s.”

Lucy nodded her head in acknowledgment, then snuck back downstairs and out the front door.  She decided to take a quick walk and try to clear her head.  The photo album threw her for a loop, and she was confounded about what to do.

She hadn’t heard a peep from Garcia since she left.  No phone calls or texts.  Not that she would’ve answered them, but he didn’t even try.  He didn’t even try to convince her to forgive him, or beg her, or anything.  He just let her walk out of his life without a fight.  She was so distraught, and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it.  She needed advice, and Amy had tried, but it comes with a bias.  She would never confide in her mother about this either.  She knew what she’d say.  She wouldn’t understand, or maybe she _couldn’t_ understand, how Lucy could throw away a three year relationship _with a doctor_ for a three month one _with a cop._  

She decided she would call Jiya, under the false pretense of wishing her a Merry Christmas, and try to get more information.  She also wanted to see how Garcia was doing.  She still loved him, and she still cared, even if she couldn’t be with him. 

As she approached the house, two men stood on the front porch.  As she drew closer, she could see it was Noah, and his best friend, Jeff.  She had taken her heels off two houses back, so they didn’t hear her approach the porch.  The shadow of the tree hid her from the light of the streetlamp, and she was about to just walk up on them when she heard her name.

“Lucy remembers everything else, except me,” Noah complained.

“That sucks man.”

“It’s not all bad though.  At least she doesn’t remember when she turned down my proposal.  She thinks she said yes, and I’m not going correct her, that’s for sure,” he laughed.

Lucy stopped dead in her tracks.  _She turned him down?_ Suddenly, that familiar sharp pain surged through her head, and every memory of Noah flooded into her brain.  _She said no.  That’s the reason she had the fight with her mother, and it’s the reason she left and wound up in Oregon._   _She left a man she loved, a man she knew loved her, for a man she didn’t._   _Oh, God no._

Noah and Jeff went back into the house a few moments later, and Lucy slid her shoes back on and slipped in unnoticed.  She made her way back to her room, shut the door, and picked up her phone.  Jiya answered on the third ring, slightly out of breath.  They engaged in pleasantries about the holiday, and that they missed each other, before Jiya called her out on why she “truly” called.

“How is he?”

“Miserable.  Maria made him come up to the inn tonight.  He looks awful, Lucy.  I don’t think he’s shaven or slept since you left.  I don’t think he’s been sober, either.  I sent Rufus to check on him and…”

“And?”

“He didn’t tell me everything, but he said that it was bad, and that he’d _never_ seen him like that.”

“Oh, God, Jiya.  I fucked up royally and I don’t know what to do.”

Lucy went through the entire scenario with her, and when she was done, there was utter silence on the other end of the line.

“Jiya?  You still there?”

“Yeah.  Lucy, I talked to him.  He swore to me that he never opened up the present.”

“Do you believe him?”

“I do.  I don’t think he’d lie.  He had no reason to.  You were already gone.”

The silence now fell on Lucy’s end, and as she glanced around the room, her eyes landed on the photo album again. 

“What do you think I should do?” Lucy asked.

“I can’t tell you.  That’s something that you have to decide for yourself.  But, I can tell you to listen to your own heart, because I think you already know what to do.”

“Jiya, if I knew what to do, I wouldn’t have called you!” Lucy answered with exasperation.

Jiya chuckled.  “Goodnight, Luce.”

She hung up the phone, then reached down and picked up the photo album again.  Towards the back were the more recent pictures, especially the one of them in front of the tree in his house.  Lucy traced the lines of his face with her finger, and as she closed her eyes she felt his soft lips as they stained hers with every ounce of his love.  _She’s an idiot.  All she can hope for now, is that he doesn’t hold it against her_. 

She stood up, the album still gripped tightly in her right hand, as she made her way down the hall to the stairs.  She moved the album from her right hand to her left, so she could hold onto the railing, and that’s when the bling caught her attention.  She pulled the ring off her finger, and held it in the palm of her right hand. 

When she got back downstairs, Noah was in the living room laughing it up with his best buddy Jeff, while Amy and her mother talked to her Aunt Cathy a few feet away.  She strolled over to Noah, grabbed his hand and shoved the ring into it. 

“I can’t marry you, I’m sorry.”

She turned and walked back towards the stairs, as he stood there dumbfounded for a moment.

“Lucy!”

“It’s over, Noah.  I remember _everything_.”

Her mother stopped her before she left the room.  “Lucy, what on earth are you doing?”

She hugged her mother quickly, then pulled back as she held her hands.

“What I should’ve done from the start.  I love you, Mom.”

She then turned, and Amy practically attacked her with a bear hug.

“Go.  I’ll bring your stuff up, _if_ and when you call me.  Drive safe,” Amy responded, as she handed her the keys to her car.

“I love you, Ames.  You’re the best sister ever!” Lucy said, as she kissed her on the cheek and ran towards the front door.

She grabbed her purse and jacket, turned around and glanced over at Amy once last time.  Amy gave her two thumbs up.  She opened the door, and stepped out into the chilly winter night.  She’ll drive all night long if she has to, but she is finding the man she loves on Christmas morning.  She needs to tell him exactly how stupid she’s been, and beg for him to give her and their relationship another chance.

Lucy did in fact wind up driving half the night.  Still clad in her red cocktail dress and high heels, she estimated she hit the Oregon state line by the early morning light.  She only had a little further to drive, and she slowed down slightly, as she glanced at the clock.  It was six in the morning.  It’s possible Maria was up at this hour, but no one else would be.  Maybe, she can talk to her for a little bit first, and calm her nerves.  If Garcia wants nothing to do with her, she doesn’t know what she’ll do. 

A light dusting of snow littered the ground, as she drove further north.  She reached the inn a short time later, and glanced back down at the clock.  Six forty-five.  On a normal day, Maria would be up this early, but it was Christmas, and it’s not like she had little ones to wake her at the crack of dawn anymore. 

She chickened out, backed her car out of the driveway, and drove around town aimlessly for a while.  In desperate need of a caffeine boost, Lucy drove all the way back out towards the highway to the gas station.  The clerk eyed her a little strangely, and she remembered the first time she had ever stepped foot in here.  It was right after the accident, and she had no idea who she was or where she was.  She smiled fondly at this memory.  If it wasn’t for that accident, she would never have met Garcia.  _Garcia._   She glanced at the clock on the wall in the gas station.  It was now eight thirty.  She couldn’t put this off any longer. 

She was relieved when she pulled into the driveway and didn’t see his SUV.  _Good, he’s not here yet. She can talk to Maria first, and get a read on the situation._   She exited the car, and inhaled the salty sea air.  She took another deep breath, and strolled towards the kitchen door.  She peeked into the window, and saw Maria in the kitchen, undoubtedly engaged in preparations for their holiday feast.  She tapped lightly on the door, and Maria gasped with surprise when she opened it.

“Lucy!”

“Merry Christmas, Maria,” Lucy responded, as she gave her a big hug.

She ushered her into the kitchen, and poured her a fresh mug of coffee. 

“You came back.  I knew you’d come back.  If you didn’t, I seriously considered shipping my idiot son to San Francisco in a crate.”

“I don’t know Maria.  I was awful to him, and I still don’t know the truth about it all, and I don’t even know if he’d want to see me.”

Maria rubbed her forehead in exasperation.  “Lucy, he didn’t know about you.  He swore to me, and I know he wasn’t lying.  He can’t lie convincingly to his mother.  As for whether he wants to see you, we’ll have to see.  I’ll go get him.”

“Wait!  He’s here?”

“He’s upstairs.  Stayed in your old room last night.  It was the only way I could guarantee he’d show up for Christmas.”

_She started to panic.  He’s already here.  He stayed in her old room.  Oh, God.  Oh, God.  What is she doing?_

Maria walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway.  She got to the bottom of the stairs, and yelled up to him.  “Garcia?  Can you help me with something in the kitchen real fast?”

He didn’t respond verbally, or if he did, Lucy couldn’t hear from the kitchen, but she did hear movement from the floor above.  The kitchen door opened a few minutes later, and he walked in.

“What do you need, Mom?”

Maria shuffled to the side, and their eyes met.

“I’ll let you two talk,” Maria advised, as she left the kitchen.

He looked as awful as she felt.  His eyes were red-rimmed, his hair uncombed, and he hadn’t shaved either.

“What are you doing here?  Come to twist the knife some more?”

Lucy’s eyes started to well up with tears.  He had never spoken to her so harshly before. She knew he was hurt, but her hopes of reconciliation were being dashed by the second.

“This was a mistake,” Lucy said, as she shot up from the chair, grabbed her coat and purse from the chair next to her, and strolled towards the door.

She reached for the door knob, but hesitated.  She turned back to him, as the tears rolled down her face now.

“I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry for everything.  I-I’ll go then.”

“Lucy wait!” he yelled, as he reached his arm out for her, even though he was still too far away.

She stood there and just stared back at him.

“I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”

“Thank you.”

They both just stood there, as neither one of them knew what to say.  Finally, he took another step closer to her.

“Where’s your fiancé?”

“I don’t have one,” she answered, as she held up her left hand.  “In fact…I never did.”

“What?  I don’t understand.”

“Noah and I were never engaged.  He lied.  I turned down his proposal.  It was the reason my mother and I had that horrible fight, and how I wound up in Oregon.”

The permanent scowl he had worn since she saw him, suddenly changed to shock and surprise.  He turned away from her, and rubbed his face with his hands.  She was still frozen in place, unable to tell how he felt or whether she should stay or go.

He spun back around, and glanced over at her with a blank expression on his face. 

“So, you thought what-you’d just run back to me?  I don’t want to be anyone’s second choice, Lucy.  I love you, but I can’t be with you knowing that your heart belongs to someone else.”

He ran his hands through his hair, and blew out an audible sigh.  “I think it’s best if you leave now.”

She was hurt.  He was so cold and heartless, she didn’t recognize the man before her.  _Maybe, she’s just destined to be alone.  It was what her life was like before Noah, and she survived.  She can survive this too._

“Fine,” Lucy snapped, as she turned on her heel and opened the kitchen door.  “But, just so you know, you were _never_ my second choice, Garcia.  _Never_.”

She slammed the door behind her, and ran (as best she could in those monstrous heels) to her car.  When she reached the driver’s side door, she leaned up against it, and slumped down to the cold, snowy ground.  She knew she was way too distraught to drive, so she sat there and cried uncontrollably.

The next thing she knew, Garcia screamed her name, and his feet appeared in her line of sight.  She tilted her head up, as he stood over her.  She could only imagine what she looked like.  Her makeup was probably smeared and running down her face, and her eyes were definitely puffy.  He bent down, and took her hands in his. 

“Did you mean it, Lucy?  I’m not your back up plan?”

“God, no!  More like my wish upon a star plan?”

“What?” he asked, as his brow furrowed.

“I love you, not Noah.  I hoped…”

“Hoped what?”

“Hoped you could forgive me for being a complete idiot.  I left because I thought you betrayed me, not because I loved another man.”

“I didn’t Lucy!  You have to believe me.  I never opened that present,” he pleaded, as his thumb caressed her hand.

“I believe you.  Deep down, I think I always knew you were never capable of that.”

“Never.  I would never hurt you.  I love you too much.”

“I love you too.  So…now what?”

“Now,” he stated, as he pulled her up from the ground, “Now we start our lives together.  If-if that’s what you want-what you meant.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I want.  Well, I’ll have to ask your Mom if I can have my old room back.”

“It’s already occupied.”

“I heard,” she teased.

“I couldn’t really sleep.  The sheets still smelled like you.  It was torture.”

“I didn’t really sleep without you either.”

He pulled her into his arms, and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Well, then, we’ll just have to sleep next to each other for the rest of our lives then, won’t we?”

He kissed her lips softly at first, then deepened the kiss until they were breathless.

“Garcia Flynn, are you proposing to me?”

“Unofficially, yes.”

“Unofficially?”

“Lucy, I can’t let this be the story we tell our children someday.  What am I supposed to say when they ask how I proposed; your mother had makeup running down her face, as she cried and I hadn’t slept or shaved in two days?  Not exactly a romantic gesture.  But, I will propose.”

“Well then…my answer is unofficially yes,” she exclaimed, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

 

 


	16. Rapture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn asks Lucy to move in with him. Flynn takes Lucy on a surprise trip for her birthday. An Easter egg scavenger hunt occurs and changes everything. Lucy has a lot to be thankful for the next Thanksgiving and beyond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone who left comments (you make my day) and kudos. It warms my heart to know other people like what I'm writing and love my beloved Garcy just as much as I do.

They walked hand-in-hand back into the inn, to the delightful squeal of his mother. 

“Does this mean what I think it means?” Maria asked with eager anticipation. 

Flynn gazed at Lucy with a beaming smile.

“It does,” he responded, as he kissed the knuckles on Lucy’s hand softly.

Maria practically bounced on her toes, before she hugged Lucy tightly.  “I guess that means you’ll want your old room back?”

Lucy was about to answer his mother, when he interrupted.  “Actually, I was hoping we could get the rest of your stuff out of that room and bring it home.”

“Wait, you’re moving to California with Lucy?”

Lucy chuckled.  “No, Maria, Oregon is my home now.  I’m assuming Garcia was referring to his house.”

“Our house,” he corrected, as he glanced at her and squeezed her hand.

He never wanted to presume anything with Lucy, but he did this time.  There was no way he was going to let her stay here any longer.  He wanted her to be with him, all the time.  They were practically living together before she left anyway.

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” she asked playfully, as she twirled a loose curl in her hair.

“Unofficially, yes?” he laughed.

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Okay, seriously.  Asking?  More like begging,” he responded with a smirk, as he clasped his hands in prayer.

Lucy swatted his arm, and rolled her eyes.  He was pushing his luck and he knew it, but he had been overcome with happiness.  Less than a few hours ago, his world had ended, and now the planets had aligned perfectly, and Lucy was in his orbit again.  He wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck softly.

“Of course I will,” she answered.

They did the obligatory family Christmas with his mother, brother and Ashley, and he honestly couldn’t stop himself from constantly touching her.  It was as if he was terrified she’d just disappear, a hallucination, specter, or figment of his drunken stupor.  As soon as he would make contact her with body, his anxiety subsided, even if it was just a slight brush of their fingers.  He counted the minutes until they could go home.  He loved his family, but he needed to make up for lost time with Lucy. 

Finally, they had stayed long enough to not be rude, and he tilted his head towards the door, as Lucy stared at him wide-eyed. 

“Let me grab my stuff from upstairs.”

“Get it tomorrow.”

“You are _never_ going to want to get out of bed to come here tomorrow.  This much I can promise,” she whispered, as she glanced back at him suggestively.

“Get your stuff now then.  Do you want me to help?”

He helped Lucy throw the rest of her belongings into a suitcase Maria leant them.  Lucy haphazardly threw things into it, as she didn’t seem to care about her clothes getting wrinkled.  He got the distinct impression she just wanted the entire process concluded as fast as possible, which was okay with him.

The second they finished unloading both cars when they got back to his house, she practically attacked him.  He never complained, but gave as good as he got.  He carried her to the bed, and she pulled him down and kissed him passionately.  _He missed this more than he realized._   When he kissed her neck, he felt the shiver run through her body, and she made a noise he swore he had never heard from her before.  Then he identified what the culprit was: his scruff. 

“Lucy, do you want me to shave real fast?”

She grabbed both of his cheeks, gazed longingly into his eyes, and then whispered, “absolutely not…at least until you give me a few orgasms first.”

_God, he loves her._

Lucy hadn’t remembered a time when she was happier.  They had enjoyed Christmas together, and spent a magical night in the Jacuzzi on New Year’s Eve.  Garcia had gone with her back to California to return Amy’s car and move the rest of her stuff.  Amy had been thrilled to get to know Garcia more, and of course Carol resented his presence, since in her view, he had stolen her daughter away from the life she was meant to have.  Lucy knew that meant the life her mother had planned out for her.

Once she had settled in at the house, it definitely flaunted Lucy’s personality.  The bookshelves were filled with all of her favorites, the den had been invaded by her research, and the house no longer looked like a bachelor lived there. 

It was towards the end of January now, and her birthday fast approached.  Garcia hinted about a special gift, and she wondered if he was going to propose.  Which is why she was thoroughly confused, when she came home from the inn one day to find a suitcase packed with her things.

_What the hell?_   She heard the front door open and close a minute later, and yelled down to Garcia.

“Why is my suitcase packed, _darling_?”

“It’s part of your birthday surprise, _my love_.  We’re leaving early in the morning.  I’ve already packed everything you need.  No peeking though.”

“You’re not even going to give me a hint?”

“And, I thought I was impatient,” he laughed.

The next morning, she dragged her sleep-deprived butt down to the car and climbed in.  She had no clue where he was taking her, but right now she was so tired she didn’t care.  She fell asleep for a while on the drive.  When she woke up, she noticed they had just passed a sign for Mt. Hood.

“Can you tell me where we’re going now?”

“Gabriel’s cabin.  He said we could use it for the weekend.”

“What?  He has a cabin?”

“Mr. Big-Shot Architect has multiple properties.  You should feel special, he never let me use it before I met you.”

A few minutes later, they turned off the main road, and down a forested drive that wound up the side of the mountain.  They passed by the cute little A-frame chalets that littered the mountainside.  As they got closer to the top of the mountain, the cute little chalets turned into luxurious mountain homes.  _Figures he’d own one of those_.  If Garcia was a fine wine, Gabriel was a three-hundred year old bottle of scotch.  Neither of the Flynn brothers had a terrible sense of fashion, although Garcia spent much of his time in his uniform (she _loved_ that uniform anyway), but Gabriel was always dressed to the nines in designer clothes. 

They pulled down a long, tree-lined drive, and Lucy’s mouth gaped open when she saw the “cabin.”  It was a typical A-frame chalet style, but it was more like a mountain lodge than a cabin.  It had huge windows all over, the tallest ceilings she’d ever seen in her life, fireplaces in almost every room, and a hot tub and pool out back.

“Why would Gabriel never let you use this?  It’s amazing!”

“Who knows.  I don’t pretend to understand what goes on in my brother’s brain.  I do know one thing though,” he stated, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, “we are going to christen every single one of these rooms while we’re here.”

The smile he wore was absolutely devilish, and Lucy couldn’t quite contain her laughter.  They settled in nicely, and definitely christened the beautiful, wrought-iron canopy bed in the master bedroom that night.

The next day was Lucy’s birthday, and she again thought he might propose, when she opened the gift bag and saw that little burgundy box.  It wasn’t an engagement ring, but it was a beautiful ring with a huge ruby.

The same pattern happened on Valentine’s Day, except this time he bought her matching ruby earrings, and Lucy had begun to think she was purposefully being tortured now.

**_April_ **

She arrived home one day after shopping with Jiya for an Easter dress, to find the house eerily quiet.  Her boyfriend’s car was outside, yet he was nowhere to be found.  She strolled towards the French doors to check if he was on the deck, when she saw pink peony and tulip petals strewn across the floor, and a plastic Easter egg meticulously positioned directly in the middle of them.  She bent down, picked up the egg and opened it.  Inside, were a few jelly beans and a small, folded-up piece of paper.  She unfolded the paper, and read what it said.

_“The sweetest treasure waits to be found,_

_If you can decipher the clues that are lying around._

_The first clue you will find, quite easily,_

_If you search in the place, you get your tea.”_

Lucy was puzzled at first, but then decided to play along with whatever romantic antic her boyfriend was up to.  She went into the kitchen, opened the cabinet, and peered into the mason jar she kept her tea bags in.  Nothing.  She read the clue again, then moved to the stove and checked the tea kettle.  Bingo.  She pulled out a second plastic egg, opened it, and removed a second scroll of paper and a few Hershey’s Kisses. 

_“You’ve found the first, now to find clue number two,_

_Go to the place that has the flue.”_

He hadn’t made this hard at all, which she was actually thankful for, and she exited the kitchen and moved into the living room.  Right there, at the bottom of the fireplace, she found her third egg.

_“You’re doing great,_

_Getting closer by the hour,_

_Next you should check,_

_The spot we devour.”_

This one took Lucy a little longer to figure out, but she bounced into the dining room, and found the next one.  She became more excited by the second, as she opened the next egg.

_“Solving clues isn’t hard,_

_As you may already know,_

_So go to the place,_

_We made love in the snow.”_

She raced out the door, down the steps to the lower patio, and over to the Jacuzzi, where she found a floating egg.

_“The hunt is almost over,_

_A few more clues to track,_

_The next one you need to locate,_

_Is where we hit the sack.”_

She ran back up the stairs and into the house.  She hoped this would have an end to it sometime soon, because she had started to lose her patience.  She made her way up to their bedroom, and found the egg on the comforter.

_“The last clue is easy,_

_It’s not hard to check,_

_The answers you seek,_

_Will be on the deck.”_

She ran back down the stairs, out the French doors, and onto the deck.  She stopped dead in her tracks when she did.  The entire deck floor was covered in the peony and tulip petals, and the railings were graced with bouquet after bouquet as well.  On the table, was the last egg.  She picked it up and opened it.  A beautiful diamond ring sparkled back at her, and she clasped her hand to her mouth.  Garcia appeared from out of nowhere, plucked the ring from her hand, and got down on one knee. 

“Lucy, will you marry me and make me the happiest man on earth?”

Tears of joy flowed down her rosy cheeks, and she shook her head as she responded.  “Yes.”

He slipped the ring on her finger, stood up, and crashed his lips upon hers, as he wrapped his arms around her.

“You looked a little confused there when you opened the last egg and saw the ring.  What were you thinking, Lucy?” he asked with a slight chuckle.

“You were nowhere to be found.  I thought maybe my hot Croatian boyfriend was proposing in absentia,” she joked.

“Ha, ha.  Very funny, Lucy.  Especially, since I ‘took care’ of him months ago.”

“I told you before, and I’ll tell you once again, Garcia Flynn,” she stated, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, “You’re the only man for me.”

“I better be!” he growled playfully into her ear.

**_June_ **

They married at the end of June, and held the ceremony right on the beach at the inn.  The wedding was put together at warp speed, but neither of them wanted to wait, and neither of them wanted a huge wedding either.  The inn was where they met and fell in love, so it was the perfect place to hold their nuptials, as far as they were both concerned.  Amy was Lucy’s maid-of-honor and Jiya her bridesmaid, while Gabriel served as best man and Rufus was a groomsman.  Carol was less than thrilled about the whole wedding to begin with, but she kept her silver-forked tongue to herself for the most part.  Carol wanted Lucy to hyphenate her name once they were married, or just keep going by Preston.  She decided to change it to Flynn, mostly because it pissed her mother off (at least that’s what he assumed).  His mother was happy, not just for him, but for herself as well.  She told everyone that she gained a daughter.  His mother and Lorena had gotten along fine, but not like she did with Lucy. 

For a man who had been married once before, he was truly never more nervous in his life.  He had started to sweat, and it wasn’t even that hot out, especially with the cool breeze that rode the ocean waves into shore.  His throat tightened, and his heart pounded in his chest, until he saw her.  The make-shift aisle was strewn with rose petals.  When he gazed down and saw Lucy dressed in a beautiful, one-shoulder, empire-waisted, A-line gown, he almost passed out.  _Or he’s dead already, and this is the first angel he’s come across in heaven_.  Not that it mattered what she wore.  She could have worn a burlap sack and those fuzzy pink slippers she loves so much, and he’d still think she’s the most beautiful woman in the world.

Never ask him what happened during that ceremony, because he hadn’t remembered a thing.  He stared at her, because it was the only thing that kept him from collapsing onto the sand.  She looked radiantly joyous, as evidenced by her mile-wide smile, and he was mesmerized by her beauty.  He had given serious consideration to writing his own vows, but he knew if he had to utter more than the two words he wanted to, he would’ve froze up completely.  When he’s not the center of attention and they’re alone, he has never had a problem expressing his feelings and emotions. 

All he wanted to do was kiss her and call her his wife, and the ceremony felt like it would continue indefinitely, and he’d never get there.  _Finally_ , a few minutes later, he heard his name called, and his brain snapped back into reality.

“Do you, Garcia Flynn, take this woman…?”

It was just two little words.  Two words he had said plenty of times in regular conversation, and once before in a similar situation.  Two words he had literally practiced saying.  _Why are they not spewing forth immediately?_

Instead, he gazed down at Lucy, and opened his mouth.  In retrospect now, he had to laugh at the response he gave.

“Hell yeah!”

The guests all chuckled, (well, all except for his mother-in-law-to-be).  Lucy smiled, but her eyes were wide and wild, which he knew meant she wanted to smack him. 

“I do,” he corrected.

He slid the ring onto her finger, as his hand trembled slightly, and he pressed his lips to it once he had. 

“Do you Lucy Preston, take this man…”

She glanced up at him with that devilishly devious smile plastered to her face.

“I-I… Of course I do!”

He breathed out the breath he’d held in, as he prayed she hadn’t changed her mind.  The guests chuckled again, and Carol rolled her eyes at her daughter’s (in her opinion anyway) misguided attempt at humor.  She slid the wedding ring onto his hand, as she idly spun it with her fingers before she pulled away.

“By the power vested in me by the State of Oregon, I now pronounce you husband and wife.  You may kiss the bride.”

_Finally!_   He grabbed Lucy and pulled her close, as his lips crashed passionately onto hers.  The crowd hooted and hollered, right before they parted. 

The wedding was perfect, the weather was perfect, and his _wife_ was perfect.  They enjoyed the rest of the night with their friends and family, and then flew to Hawaii the next morning for their honeymoon. 

**_November_ **

Lucy still helped out at the inn from time to time, but mostly concentrated on writing her next book.  Her publisher wanted her to write about her entire experience as an amnesiac, but she felt really strange about the whole thing.  After a little soul-searching and supportive urging from her husband, she decided to give it a go. 

Amy came to visit a lot, which helped Lucy with the physical distance between them.  Lucy made a few trips to California to visit, even though she and her mother were not on the best of terms since she broke her “never real” engagement to Noah, and married Garcia instead. 

Since it was Thanksgiving, Lucy felt obliged to extend an olive branch, so she invited her mother and Amy to join the rest of the Flynn family for the holiday.  Maria was always a gracious hostess, and she did make the best turkey Lucy’s ever had.  Jiya and Rufus joined them again this year.  They were living together now, but Rufus still hadn’t popped the question.  Gabriel and Ashley had broken up, so he was flying solo.  Lucy had to make sure she kept Amy away from him, after her sister made some flippant comment about getting herself an older man too.

When it came time to tell the table what they were thankful for, Carol of course took the opportunity to make it awkward.  Lucy rolled her eyes, and was grateful that the rest of the Flynns, as well as Jiya and Rufus, didn’t hold her mother against her.  She had a lot to be thankful for this year, and made sure she went last.

“First, I’m thankful to have my memories and my family back.  I’m thankful for the opportunity to spend this Thanksgiving with _all_ the people I care about.  I’m especially thankful to my incredible husband, who I love more each day.  But, I’m most thankful for the newest member of the Flynn family who will be here this time next year.”

Flynn almost choked on his wine when she said it.  He snapped his head to look at her in surprise.  “Lucy, are you-are you…?”

“I’m pregnant,” she proudly announced.

He reached out and cupped her cheek.  “Are you sure?”

She nodded her head, and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.  Maria and Carol were thrilled, and the rest of the group shared their appropriate congratulations. 

After dinner, Garcia pulled her aside.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to surprise you.  Plus, I figured I could tell everyone in one fell swoop.  You’re happy, right?”

“Of course! I’m not sure happy even covers it.  The chance to be a father again-Lucy you have no idea what that means to me.”

“Yes, well, I expect you to completely pamper me during this entire process, just so you know,” she laughed, as she kissed him softly.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way my love,” he answered, as he kissed her forehead.

**_August_ **

Lucy literally wanted to murder her husband when she felt the first of _many_ labor pains.  She had hoped that Garcia would be a comfort to her since he had been through this before, but he was even more nervous than she was.  They had decided to keep the sex of the baby a surprise, so they hadn’t settled on a name either.  They had discussed a number of them, and narrowed it down to a few for a girl and a few for a boy.  Lucy wanted to keep the tradition Maria had started, and give the baby a name that began with the letter G. 

Even though he was a wreck, he held her hand through the entire labor, (which of course was protracted since it was her first time).  Lucy was drained, but kept pushing, and at 2:07 a.m., baby boy Flynn arrived.  She was exhausted, but when they put her son into her arms, she had never been happier.  When she glanced up at her husband, his smile was wider than the Grand Canyon. 

“Garcia, he’s beautiful.”

“He is.  Looks just like his mother, thankfully.”

“He has his father’s eyes and head of hair, though,” she stated, as she handed him the baby.

She watched her husband hold their newborn son carefully, as he cooed softly.  They were a family now.  She cried tears of joy, and Garcia quickly handed her back the baby.

“What are we going to name him, Lucy?”

“Grady.  Grady Christopher Flynn.”

“I like Grady.  That meant noble, right?”

“Yes.  Plus, I happen to like it, and I know it’ll piss my mother off, which is like icing on the cake at this point.”

Flynn chuckled.  “Why Christopher?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to it.”

“Because if it wasn’t for Lt. Christopher taking me to the inn that night, I might never have met you.”

He smiled brightly back at her, and tears began to stream down her face again.

“Lucy?” he asked with concern.

“I’m okay.  Just-just really, _really_ happy.”

He sat down on the hospital bed next to her, and wrapped his arm around her.  Lucy gazed down at her son in her arms, then up at her husband.  He leaned in and kissed her lips softly.  Life certainly hadn’t turned out the way she had planned, but the best-laid plans often go awry, don’t they?  She knew it wouldn’t always be sunshine and rainbows in the years ahead, but she had never felt more jubilant in her life.  She had everything she had ever wanted and _more,_ even if she hadn’t planned it this way.  When you boiled it all down, all she really needed was the love of the incredible man who had married her.  He had given her everything of himself, his heart; his love; his comfort; his strength.  But, most of all, he had given her the greatest gift she could ever wish for: motherhood.  As she smiled down at her infant son once more, she finally understood the enormity of her blessings, and the true power of unconditional, unmitigated love.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peonies symbolize happy marriage, prosperity, good fortune, honor, and compassion.  
> Pink tulips symbolize happiness, good wishes, and an attachment to someone.  
> The tulip’s scientific name “Tulipa” is said to mean perfect love.


End file.
